The Demonic Black Knight
by sephiroth12285
Summary: Seven years after an unforeseen incident awoke a hidden power within him, but after that Lelouch's life had never been the same after that as he made a choice following that incident to become a devil. Now having earned the right to be a king after seven years can he live up to the crown he worked so hard to earn while he must be ready for the challenges ahead. ***discontinued***
1. Chapter 1 Terror of the Black Knight

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Code Geass, High School DxD and anything else mentioned in this story otherwise I wouldn't be writing fanfiction lol.

A/N: I spent over a year to get a solid idea for this fic which included four to three revisions of one idea, adding four to about six different ideas for a plot before finally deciding to just use a fine-tuned version of the original idea after some very serious consideration. This was inspired by EpicEbi's Games fanfic which was a crossover between Code Geass and High School DxD.

Summary: Seven years after an incident saw Lelouch drawn into the world of the supernatural involving Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels and more the former prince made a choice to become a devil and now seven years later he is ready to set out on the path of being a king in his own right. Yet some old grudges remain, but nothing could prepare him for what laid on the horizon. As he is the Demonic Black Knight and wielder of the corrupted holy sword Arondight and now the king of his own peerage.

He has earned the right to be a king, but can he prove he is worthy?

Anyway as the summary notes that Lelouch became a devil following what should have been his supposed death, although he began as a servant like other humans as of the end of chapter one he is ready to become a king and receive his own peerage so the next coming chapters will be Lelouch setting out for another mission while at the same time he is given his own set of evil pieces to begin looking for potential candidates for his peerage.

Where will he go first and who will be the first one to join, well you'll just have to read through the story and find out.

And will there be a harem…yes of course there will be one given what DxD is kinda built around and what is expected for some in Devil Society too. And who will be in Lelouch's harem? Well that will depend on how the plot and certain events play out, but either way I plan on building it to have a good mix of Code Geass and DxD characters, which I hope to use some choices that I haven't really seen used in some crossovers like this one. (Or try to at least.)

But you are more than welcomed to leave suggestions in your reviews or PM me about them. So far I am looking at either Rias or Sona for Lelouch to start off with at some point. If you do have your suggestions for certain characters then tell me why they would work and remember sex appeal is not a deciding factor for me…I am looking at everything that can character can bring to the table for the sake of both development of characters and overall story. So don't take offense if your preferred choices don't make it into the harem.

Anyway on with the chapter…

* * *

Chapter 1

Terror of the Black Knight

(January 15th 2017 A.T.B.)

For some the sight might have been dazzling for someone similar in age, but for Lelouch Lamperouge the sight of the lights illuminating the Toyko Settlement and the Viceroy Palace was nothing more than empty brilliance. It was also a reminder of the world he was a part of, once, a place ruled by the Holy Britannian Empire. Standing atop a seven story building overlooking the vast cityscape before him the black-haired youth glared at the people below.

His gaze softened moments later as he reached with his left hand under the collar of the white T-shirt he wore to look upon a silver necklace he wore that had been concealed under the shirt. It had an egg-shape silver locket with a silver crucifix dangling right below it. He looked upon the locket for a moment before putting it away. He was dressed in a simple white shirt with black pants and shoes while his hair moved gently with the night breeze.

Without a word he summoned a blade into his hands.

Lelouch was hesitant at first, but his amethyst eyes shinned fierce with renewed determination moments later as he gripped the handle of the blade, which was clearly of supernatural origins in his hands.

The blood red blade was a longsword in design with a abnormally long fifty-five inch blade, but overall the weapon seemed to have forged out of a crystallized metal of some short, but its hilt and hand guard which were spiked out like a six point star had more of an organic appearance as a grotesque fusion of bone, metal and flesh. In the center was a red demonic eye that moved out trying to seek out something. The handle itself was composed of a crystallized form of flesh and bone with a spiked point on the end.

"Awaken Arondight," Lelouch said as part of an activation chant as the demonic eye of the unholy sword began glowing as torrent of demonic power began to surge through his body.

Every cell in his body was on fire as he felt the demonic power of the blade beginning to change his body into something far more terrifying and yet more than capable of wielding the sword he held. A mix of shadow and blood-red demonic power encased his entire body in a shell before it began transforming merging with his body becoming a second skin.

Within moments his entire body became encased in a fully clad in pitch-black medieval armor trimmed with gold wearing a matching rustic helmet with a thinly carved slit displaying the ghastly glow of his blazing red eyes. Like the sword the armor was of obvious demonic origins. It wasn't bulky, but it was streamed line and perfectly accustomed to fit the body of its wearer. On his right shoulder was a pair of curved black-polished blades while on the left shoulder was three large vertical spikes matching the horn on the top of the helmet. The helmet itself had a set of demonic wings on the side of it.

On the arms, legs, shoulders and boots were signs of black crystals growing upon the armor providing a more intimidating appearance. From the top of his helmet a long red ponytail could be seen while over a dozen black leather straps tipped with silver hung from around his shoulders and back. His metallic gauntlets were claw-like in appearance, but most bizarre of all was the illusion-like mist enveloping his body. His entire form was encircled in a black fog which constantly shifts the outline of his visage like an off-focus photograph that obscures the discerning features of the armor yet providing an otherworldly aura to the knight.

"**Now," **Lelouch spoke as his voice had taken on a deep and demonic voice. Without a second thought the demon knight took off leaping high into the night sky moving swiftly across the Toyko Settlement heading to his target.

* * *

Almost an hour later at a warehouse located in a seemingly deserted section of the Toyko Settlement Docks near the Toyko Bay lights from a single warehouse could be seen. The surrounding area had a gentle breeze blowing through the gaps in-between the buildings as the moon shinned down upon the area providing very limited illumination around the dark buildings save for the lights from the one warehouse in question.

Inside the warehouse a large number of workers were unloading crates filled with seemingly everyday products like clothes and power tools, but concealed within the crates were boxes filled with a potent illegal and highly addictive deliriant that induces hallucinatory flashbacks to pleasant past experiences. This was popular among the former Japanese citizens now called Elevens who had suffered terribly under the iron fist of Britannia's rule. Although the drug known as Refrain did offer an escape for the opposed Japanese the drug was not without its negative side effects.

The drug enters the synapse circuits and forces the brain to create more dopamine than it requires. Because of a new formation in the memory circuit, as the thoughts loop about within the brain the cerebellum begins to deteriorate and causes the victim to become an invalid. Despite these dangers the drug was still addictive to the Japanese populace and the corrupt nobles and Britannians selling it to them were making a fortune off of it.

Now more of the poison was about to be sold onto the streets once it was unpacked from the crates at the warehouse and then given to their sellers to distribute it.

Outside the warehouse patrolling the surrounding area a pair of guards dressed in causal wearing carrying handguns concealed within the jackets they wore. They tried to act as causal as possible to avoid drawing attention, but it was unlikely since for the most part the area was deserted at this time of night. Two of them stopped midway through their patrol to have a chat.

"So did you check out the match last night?"

"Nah I was with my girl."

"Her name was Jenny right?"

"Nah I am seeing her best friend Jessica."

"So you and Jenny broke up?"

The guard grinned before admitting. "Nah we haven't broken up, she doesn't know."

"Heh you are such a bastard, but won't she find out they usually do."

"No way in hell."

"Ten bucks says she'll catch you two together."

"You're on," The guard remarked before checking his watch. "Ok got to check the south side, but I really don't think there is a point. Nobody fucking comes here."

"Yeah and we got the cops in our pocket so who is going to bother us?"

The two men parted, but twenty minutes later only one of them came back.

"Where the fuck are you Todd?"

Suddenly behind him Lelouch was standing there with his sword dripping with blood. Without hesitation he cut down the unsuspecting guard before he realized he was even there. As his head rolled across the ground the black knight walked over to a side door. Grabbing the doorknob he generated a large amount of heat melting the doorknob and the lock ensuring no one can open the door. Inside the warehouse everyone continued on like nothing was happening unaware of the imminent danger outside.

"Is the shipment for Osaka almost ready?"

"It will be ready in just a few more minutes' sir."

At that moment without warning the lights suddenly went out causing the men packaging the suitcases with refrain to get little jumpy while the armed guards on the inside snapped to fully alertness.

"Someone check the breakers and someone find out what the hell Fred and Todd are doing?"

Two men hurried towards the back of the warehouse, but they would never come back as the last anyone heard of them was the sound of brief gunfire before a scream followed. The other guards hurried to the scene ready with what weapons they had while some of the workers who had been unpacking crates began trying to seek out one of the emergency exits seeking a possible escape route. But there would be no escape, because above them Lelouch leapt through the skylight letting out a demonic roar that echoed throughout the building as Lelouch landed in the middle of the room.

Despite the darkness he could see everything clearly without difficulty.

One man screamed as he saw a pair of blazing red eyes glowing brightly with demonic power. A demonic aura surged around Arondight serving as a beacon marking where the demon knight was as his blade swung through the air cleaving through two of the warehouse's armed guards with ease. The sound of gunfire echoed as the guards aiming for the red aura and eyes emptied whole clips upon the demonic knight.

"What the fuck is that?"

"Who cares just gun it down!"

Unfortunately their bullets bounced harmlessly off of his body, nothing they did could harm him.

The demon knight aggressively continued its attack as it moved with a terrible inhuman speed faster than which the eye could keep up with as it claimed three more victims as it hacked and slashed at the armed guards killing them two or three at a time using the range and reach of the demonic blade to its full devastating effect.

Another tried to attack with a crowbar, but the knight turned around promptly and beheaded the man before turning to drive his sword through the stomach of another thug. Another pair tried to use their weapons at point blank, but nothing they did could harm the terrible black knight as it simply decapitated them swiftly. The walls and the floors around the black knight were stained with the blood of the thugs and drug dealers he was quickly killing. Limbs and served body parts were also scattered about the room as well but with the lights out no one could see the grisly carnage first hand.

"Oh to hell with this, RUN FOR IT!"

Four armed drug dealers dropped their weapons and attempted to escape, but in their panic they forgot the power for the building had been cut off leaving them unable to open the loading bay dock doors. Picking up one of their discarded machine guns the black knight unleashed the entire contents of the magazine upon the panicked drug dealers gunning them down, but when one of them actually had the sense to make for another exit that didn't rely on electricity to open the knight picked up one of the crowbars left lying about to open crates with. With a frighteningly impressive throw the crowbar was impaled through the back of the man's head killing him.

As the man fell the demonic knight examined the area around him as his enhanced vision looking for anyone he might have missed. With his work done the black knight went about using his sword to destroy all of the Refrain samples he could find. Once that was finished Lelouch cut his way into the back of the warehouse after slicing apart a sealed off area of the warehouse through an indoor sliding door leading to a storage area.

Inside Lelouch saw a large group of people, but they weren't drug dealers or any of their lackeys but rather they were victims of Refrain who were under its effects. He saw various people and judging from their clothing and the condition they were in the majority were Honorary Britannians who had likely cracked under pressure from Britannian opposing in one form or another. As he walked passed them he overheard them living out their most pleasant memories, which was both sad and yet pathetic at the same time in a way.

"That's right I am getting married next week," A woman said before an old man exclaimed.

"Japan is the vanguard of modern technology!"

"I did it I passed and I am going aboard," A third man exclaimed happily, but instead of being a successful executive like he had hoped he had been reduced to a hot dog vendor.

The black knight continued to walk pass them completely ignoring them as he didn't exist to them while Lelouch proceeded deeper into the warehouse seeking out the last member of the Refrain dealers. He knew he was back there somewhere and he was getting closer to him. Suddenly a hail of gunfire from a large weapon pelted the black knight as the demonic warrior quickly used his sword to deflect the incoming bullets.

A LE-E106 Knightpolice unit was using its machine pistol in an effort to kill the demonic knight, but any shot in danger of hitting him was easily deflected much to the pilot's growing shock and horror.

"GOD DAMN IT, JUST WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU?"

"**I am your executor, Seth of the Fallen Angels. You surely didn't think my coming here was purely chance did you? We know about your deals with the Fallen Angels using this drug operation to conceal yourself and your activities."** The demonic knight spoke with a menacing voice that matched his appearance.

"You won't kill me!" The Fallen Angel snapped as the Knightpolice unit raced forward still firing its machine pistol at the black knight, but leapt high into the air escaping into the rafters above to evade the gunfire. The Knightmare Frame quickly found its target and released another hail of bullets into the ceiling as the Black Knight evaded them before leaping down to the ground again over a large rack of stored goods and crates.

As the Knightpolice unit came screaming around the corner searching for him the Black Knight literally cut out the legs from under the enemy machine causing it to crash into a broken heap in the middle of the open aisle. With his machine wrecked the cockpit opened up before Seth began to emerge readying a light sword.

The Fallen Angel wore a gray overcoat with a black business suit underneath; he also had short messy unkempt blonde hair and green eyes with a pale skin complexion. Using his wings the fallen angel took flight while the demon knight to the fallen angel's own surpise saw as his foe spouted his own wings, which consisted of two white angelic wings, two small black and purple dragon wings and lastly a pair of demonic devil wings.

The black knight took flight as he and the Fallen Angel locked swords between one another. Despite his efforts Seth couldn't land a blow and even summoned up light arrows to strike down his foe, but whenever he tried the Black Knight either dodged them or deflected them. The demon knight moved in and delivered a kick to the side of the Fallen Angel's head that pushed him back, but the black winged drug dealer fought back trying to deliver a kick of his own after his own strike with his light spear was blocked. But his foot bounced off of the black armor the demon knight was dressed in forcing the Fallen Angel to back off.

Their blades met as the two combatants exchanged blow after blow seemingly matched in skill as the two kept fighting, but the leather straps hanging from the black knight suddenly came to life as a swirl of the black-fog like aura surrounding him animated the straps before thrusting forward stabbing into the limbs of his foe when their blades met again for the sixth time after landing on the ground following a fierce aerial battle between the two.

With his foe stunned the black knight swiftly decapitated his target with three skillful swipes of his blade.

His target lay dead on the ground in a bloody heap as the demonic knight stood over the remains of his defeated foe, but as he was basking in the glory of his victory and the successful completion of his mission until he was hit hard in the back of the head by someone wielding a harisen. The blow hit him with enough force to knock him face first to the ground stunning him.

After a moment the demonic knight began to get up where he turned his head to see a young woman in her early twenties with a fair skin complexion, silver hair and matching eyes along with red lipstick. The beautiful woman was dressed in a blue and white French maid outfit with long sleeves and a white maid headband over her head. Her silver hair, which flows all the way down to her back, features a long braid on each side with small blue bows at the ends, while the rest is let down, ending in twin braids.

"**What was that for Grayfia-sama,"** the demonic knight said struggling to get back up before without mercy Grayfia Lucifuge delivered another ground-driving blow to the head with her harisen.

"Lelouch, I recall that your mission was to kill the Fallen Angel and leave no witnesses."

The black helmet of the demon knight melted away into the shadows surrounding his body revealing a young man about seventeen years old with black hair, a fair skin tone and amethyst eyes.

**"Yes, but I accomplished that, didn't I?"** Lelouch replied, but his responded earned him another blow to the head.

"At what point was wiping out the entire drug operation and its members in a bloody one-sided massacre? I am not found of narcotic dealers either, but this kind of overkill draws too much attention."

Lelouch merely stared at the strict maid. **"I'm sorry that I failed to keep to the mission specifics of only killing the Fallen Angel, but it will be a bad day in the tenth layer before I say that I'm sorry for eradicating such vermin from the face of Earth. You know me too well Grayfia-sama to ask me such."**

Grayfia pinched her eyes, and sighed.

"Alright, knowing you this it will be the closest that I will come to get a proper apology for this. Now get moving; you will have a busy morning coming up."

**"Yes madam,"** Lelouch Lamperouge replied picking himself up.

The black armored being left the scene behind with Grayfia, but barely twenty minutes later another pair arrived at the warehouse to investigate what had taken place. Although they tried to come sooner in hopes of witnessing what transpired almost a half-hour ago, but once again they were too late. Entering the warehouse duo entered the main unloading bay where the bodies of the slain drug dealers and their lackeys laid. With the lights still out the leader of the duo brought out a flashlight use it to illuminate areas of the room see the carnage first hand. Holding the flashlight in one hand she knelt down near one of the decapitated remains of the slain men while her partner was feeling a little sick at the sight of the blood and decapitated body parts around her.

"What did this?"

"Someone with a large sword," The leader of the duo said noticing deep cuts in the ground and the bodies of the men who had been cleaved completely in half.

_The bodies where they were cut look as if the blade itself was burning red hot at the time of its use. _

Pulling back her hood letting her blue hair free, Xenovia continued examining the scene despite her partner's discomfort.

"If what headquarters have heard is true, then this should be the seventh incident. I believe a week before a drug operation with all of its dealers and guards killed and then a few others where a human trafficking ring was wiped out and its captives released."

"They described seeing a black knight," Irina Shidou said trying to harden her resolve to endure the smell of blood and burnt flesh in the air.

"Yeah the papers are calling him the Black Knight of Toyko, a vigilante who leaves a bloodbath in his wake. Yet no one besides the victims of those he kills has lived to tell of the encounter."

"But is this Black Knight a devil, a fallen angel or a heretic?"

"I am not sure, but this sword that is mentioned." Xenovia said as she ran her fingers along one of the deep cuts on the ground left by Arondight. "Could it be a demonic sword or something else?"

Xenovia was thinking out loud when she said that, but it was unlikely they were going to find anything to give them any real leads. Their only chance was to catch the Black Knight in the act, so all they could do was attempt to find another likely target of the Black Knight and then hope they will see him. Xenovia and Irina had no love for these drug dealers and the criminals who were victims of the demonic knight, but the fact that something with supernatural abilities was playing vigilante was a concern since there was a huge risk of the supernatural aspect of the world being revealed.

Irina was trying to pin the feeling from the residual energy in the damages, as it had a strong feeling of infernal energy, but also something that shouldn't be there. If she had seen Xenovia's face, she would have been startled, as her friend's stare was lost, like if deep in a memory of something.

They couldn't allow the world at large to learn about the existence of devils, fallen angels and other supernatural beings as it would be problematic for the church.

"Let's go Irina," Xenovia said pulling her white hood back over her head.

"Right," Irina replied as she and Xenovia left the scene wasting no time to put as much distance between them and the warehouse before the police arrive.

Later that evening upon returning to his place of residence which was the Ashford Academy located near the heart of the Toyko Settlement. Once he had reverted to back to his human form Lelouch took a shower before retiring for the night. He crashed on top of his bed not even bothering to get under the covers as he was exhausted from his transformation. It wasn't long before Lelouch fell asleep as he began dreaming of the first time he became what he was now.

* * *

(August 28th 2010 A.T.B.)

Lelouch awoke on bed in the middle of a dark sterile room that had no windows in it and was empty of most things except for the bed and a simple wooden stool sitting next to it. His vision was blurry for a time and his memories were a little mixed up as he had a hard time remembering how he came to be in this room. The ten year old got his answer when the door opened and in walked a man in his early twenties with long red hair that hung midway down his back. His blue-green eyes scanned the young man as Lelouch noticed his robes while obviously symbolic of a noble family of some kind, but the design was unlike anything he had seen. The robes were gray with some white under it with gold and gray shoulder plates in an ornate design giving him a regal appearance.

"I see that you are finally awake at last young man."

"Who are you?"

"I am Sirzechs Lucifer, a pleasure…Lelouch I believe your name was?"

"Yes, but where am I?" Lelouch asked as his head felt sore and his entire body was even sorer, but his memory was still a mess.

"It may be best I don't go into such details yet, but let me assure you that you are safe."

"Nunnally, WHERE IS NUNNALLY?" Lelouch said as his eyes went wide realizing his sister wasn't present.

"She is safe as well, but she is recovering in another room. Just relax Lelouch…we must have a talk." Sirzechs said using one hand to gesture the child to calm down. "You are fortunate a close friend of mines was near your location fulfilling a contact following a summoning otherwise there was a chance other interested parties could have captured you…or killed you."

"What do you mean, what are you talking about?"

"I guess you don't remember after all. It was dangerous situation and the transformation you underwent was likely too much for you to handle."

"What," Lelouch said as he was genuinely confused.

"Call forth Arondight," Sirzechs asked.

"What?"

"Hold your hand and envision the sword known as Arondight, if I am right that should summon it."

The ten year old child was confused, but he did as he was asked holding out his hand as he thought about the sword and its name. But to Lelouch's shock a large crimson red blade in the form of a longsword with a living demonic eye upon it.

"Then it's true," Sirzechs said eyeing the sword with interest. "The legendary holy sword you are holding was the counterpart to Excalibur before its transformation and corruption into a powerful demonic weapon, Arondight."

"Arondight," Lelouch asked, but realized that despite the weapon's size it was so light that it felt like an extension of his arm.

"That has been missing since the aftermath of the Great War, but no one has known what happened to it and its last known wielder the Archangel Azrael."

"The Great War, what is that?"

"It was the last major war between us, heaven and the Fallen Angels many generations ago which ended in heavy losses on all sides. Azrael was the heaven's strongest warrior, but I suppose he wasn't known through some places as the Angel of Death for nothing so it fits. Arondight was also once wielded by Sir Lancelot of the Lake, a knight of the round table until he was deemed no longer worthy of the blade. However its most infamous use was recorded with Azrael who used it to single-handily slay the original four leaders of hell."

Lelouch was stunned, but then his mind quickly went to work prompting a question from him to be asked.

"What does this mean for me?"

"It means you are Arondight's chosen wielder. No one else can wield it as the sword is bound to you, which I believe must have been the intention of Azrael to hide the blade to keep it from the wrong hands. I am almost certain that you must be related to him by blood."

"I," Lelouch began clearly having some difficulty comprehending all of this.

"This will be difficult for you to take it, but I'll help you Lelouch. We won't force you into service under us or anything unless you want to, but for the sake of your sister as well as for your own safety you should remain under our custody. No one save for a few of us are aware of you and your sword, but I should warn you what you will be told next will be a lot for you to take in."

And sure enough what Sirzechs Lucifer revealed next shattered Lelouch's world, his life as a human was over, but a new life among the supernatural was just beginning.

"The fact you are Arondight's chosen wielder tells us that you are a descendant of the Angel of Death who hid the blade among his descendants with the weapon passing from the eldest child of the family to the next, but no one in recorded history so far has had the potential to summon the weapon worth so the blade passed on to the next child of the family for generations with many forgetting about the sword as it remained hidden until now."

"But how was that possible?" Lelouch asked.

"Because I believe as a result of what happened with Lancelot I believe God decided to leave the sword in Azrael hands and perhaps he bestowed the ability for him to pass the sword on to his descendants as a precaution, because the Angel at the time was the only angel in heaven to have bore a child with a human woman according to what we have heard. But no concrete evidence of it had ever been found, but you wielding the sword have proven that it was true."

"So basically no one attempted to use the sword even if they knew about it?"

"Yes, but there was reason why I am sure you are beginning to suspect. The first generation of children could summon the sword forth, but the reason why they didn't wasn't because they couldn't. Rather it was because they didn't want to." Sirzechs said before gesturing to Lelouch to examine the blade more closely. "Take a good look at your weapon. Do you really think that is something an angel would wield?"

"No, so are you saying this weapon became corrupted somehow?" Lelouch asked to which Sirzechs nodded.

"You are correct. We don't know how it happened, but after the battle with the Four Kings of Hell Arondight was corrupted by the devil blood of the kings it had slain, but we suspect there were other unforeseen factors involved we yet have to understand. It mutated into a hybrid of a demonic and holy sword making the bane of both devils and angels, but seeing it now and your armored form I believe something else happened to it."

"Wait…what do you mean armored form?"

"When you summoned the blade during the first time you were encased in mystical armor formed from the sword itself. It granted you the body of an adult to wield it more properly and made you virtually invincible against your more human foes." Sirzechs replied before Lelouch realized something and began to ask almost reluctantly.

"What…what exactly happened during my first time using this weapon?"

"You were out of control, which I think was a result of desperation. So when you summoned the blade you were overwhelmed by its power and lost in a berserker frenzy cutting down all those you deemed to be an enemy." Sirzechs explained to Lelouch who was horrified as images of his time wielding the blade for the first time came back to him as he swiftly cut down one man after another while he watched their pitiful attempts to stop him with their handguns failed.

Nothing they had could penetrate the armor Lelouch had been wearing when he was taken over by the sword's corrupted powers.

"I remember….Nunnally she was going to be killed by Prime Minister Kururugi to satisfy some deal he had with the royal family. They drugged me and left me in a room unable to do anything…I remember being frantic and trying to force my own body to fight the drugs…then everything is blank." Lelouch said as he recalled what happened, but then he remembered a sword appearing in his hand as he lay on the floor as his mind and eyes had become hazy.

It was after that he blacked out.

"Suzaku!" Lelouch said his eyes snapping wide open. "Suzaku Kururugi…what happened to him?"

"He's fine…you didn't see him as an enemy. So you spare him, but it seemed he was attempting to kill his own father to stop him. Genbu had disarmed him and was contemplating kill him when you appeared and struck Genbu down."

"Where is he now?"

"He is safe in the hands of other family members. We modified his memories a little along with other survivors to cover up what happened."

Lelouch breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't kill his first and only real friend he had in Japan.

"So what happens now?"

"Now you need to make a choice."

"What kind of choice?"

"Well remember when I explained to you about the Great War and the Four Devil Kings?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with-" Lelouch's words began to trail off as a look of realization hit him which Sirzechs drove him as he summoned forth ten-demonic wings from his back. "I am one of the new four devil kings as I am sure you have realized by now taking my newly granted surname and title into account. As one of the devil kings I would like to extend an invitation to you to become one of us a devil."

Lelouch was stunned, but he knew they wanted him for the sword he wielded. He recovered quickly determined to not merely just accept it.

"What exactly would that entail? I take it you want me for my weapon correct?"

"That is one reason yes, but don't think I plan on merely using you as a servant. You'll have to do a few tasks for us to be sure, but I promise to make it all worth it."

"Go on…" Lelouch asked.

"If you accept you'll have to start off as a servant under my Queen. She has a set of Evil Pieces, but she hasn't made use of them. She is willing to use them to convert you into a devil like us and then she began begin training you wield and master your new weapon."

"Evil Pieces?"

"After the Great War ended we lost much of our population and since birth rates among Devils are few we needed a way of replenishing our numbers, so the Evil Pieces system was created." Sirzechs began to explain as he held up a black king chess piece. "Take this chess piece for example…when one is used on a human, dead or alive, he or she is converted into a low-class devil to start off. But through the completion of contracts a low-class devil can increase their rank, so upon becoming a high-class devil they can form their own peerage using their own evil pieces. The missions and contracts we can offer you along with keeping you hidden from the majority of heaven and the underworld should help you rise through the ranks rather quickly, but how well you rise will be up to you. If you wish to be a king you must earn that right."

"Earn the right to be a king." Lelouch said before he began contemplating his options. The idea of being a servant bothered him to no end, but he did see the benefits in the long term. Being in the good graces of one of the devil kings would be a plus in its own right as well. "What happens next after I become a high-class devil?"

"Other than assembling your own peerage you'll have the opportunity to be accepted into one of the noble houses of the underworld if you chose or you could become a member of my house even. You could start your own if you want, but that might be more difficult in many ways. Of course we can discuss this more in depth when that time comes."

Lelouch contemplated his opinions and considering the fact that if devils existed then so did angels and fallen agents who would no doubt be interested in his weapon as well, which was probably why Sirzechs wanted to keep his existence and the fact he has such a legendary blade in his possession from getting out mostly for his own good.

"Alright…I except…I am not thrilled with being a servant. However if I can earn the right to be my own king then I guess I'll just have to prove I am worthy to be one." Lelouch said clutching his fist in determination which earned a smile from the red-headed devil king.

"Very well Lelouch welcome to the underworld."

And now seven years later Lelouch was now finally ready to become his own king.

* * *

A/N: I decided to end it here for now since we'll be exploring more into how much Lelouch had improved since the seven years he was put under Grayfia's care and guidance, although she had other members of her husband's peerage help her out as well as some of the other Devil Kings. He didn't just take jobs from Sirzechs alone, so yeah some details on that next chapter. He began as a servant seven years ago and now he is ready to be his own king.

Why did I start Lelouch off as a low-class devil servant you asked? Simply because it would be different from what I have seen in some DxD crossover fics, although we did have a seven year time skip going ahead to where Lelouch is now receiving his own Evil Pieces and the title of high-ranking devil. So in this way Lelouch has earned the right to be a king, but now he just has to prove he lives up to it. Next few chapters will be Lelouch going on his first mission as a king to a certain area where he will also be on the lookout for his first peerage members.

Those who get involved in his peerage are not instant harem members, but some will be of course.

And the details behind the sword Lelouch has inherited will be revealed as the story unfolds including how and why it passed to him through his family line down from its most famous wielder through his mother and then to him. The armor Lelouch wears when wielding the black was inspired and is a mixed version of the armor worn by Lancelot from Fate/Zero and Nightmare from the Soul Caliber series as is the sword itself which I designed in such a way to give the appearance of a truly demonic weapon while showing signs of the holy sword it once was before it was corrupted.

And yes the sword is alive, which makes it possible for Lelouch to be recognized as its wielder preventing the sword from harming him while its blade is a danger to both Devils and its corruption make it dangerous for Angels.

What happened to Nunnally will also be revealed next chapter, so stay tuned and I thank you in advance for your reviews.


	2. Chapter 2 To be a king

A/N: WOW thank you for the reviews guy and I am just stunned by the number of favorites and alerts this story has gotten already.

I am going to save some of my other comments for the end of this chapter, but first off allow me to answer the question that this story does take place in a combined universe with the two existing together in the Code Geass world with some minor changes here and there to accommodate the story. Kuoh will appear and I made a plan for it to be worked into the story, but Lelouch will go to Kuoh Academy once he finishes his first big mission he gets as a newly appointed king.

Will I follow the canon of Code Geass in this?

*Takes a flamethrower to the Code Geass and High School DxD scripts*

Nope, although I might keep a few things from the two but it might be some time before Lelouch begins anything major since he has a lot of things he must first take care of and there is some development ahead that must be done. As to what other changes have happened I'll reveal over the course of the story, but the Khaos Brigade will become Lelouch's enemy especially as certain people in Britannia will have ties to it.

I'll save the rest of my comments for the end so on with the chapter.

* * *

Chapter 2

To be a king

The following morning the sun was shining and the birds were singing while Lelouch was resting his head to catch up on some sleep, but his slumber was interrupted. By someone using a blow-horn near his ear which successfully awoke the Devil up, but the shock of it sent him tumbling to the ground out of his chair. Standing over him was the student council president and Lelouch Lamperouge's tormentor who has put him through one embarrassing situation after another. As his ears stopped ringing he picked himself up before looking up at the busty blonde woman who loomed over him with that signature mischievous smile.

"Don't even try to deny it this time Lelouch." Milly Ashford declared with her arms folded over her chest.

"Did you have to go that far?" Lelouch shot back glaring at her.

"It worked didn't it?" The blonde replied with a smile.

Lelouch Lamperouge wasn't amused as he lifted himself off the ground.

He sat back down in his chair as he rejoined the rest of the student council in going over the budget reports for the club activities, which once again needed adjustment. If Lelouch had the authority he would have gladly cut the budget to some of the clubs he knew where somehow overspending well pass their budget much to his annoyance, but Milly kept insisting on correcting it to keep harmony in the academy.

For the past three years Lelouch had gone to Ashford Private Academy in the Toyko Settlement since attending a school in the underworld would have drawn notice, but being in Area 11 allowed him to move more quickly and achieve certain mission objectives the Devil Kings sometimes give him. There were some more enjoyable than others and he did not mind the ones that dealt with corrupt officials or those who distribute drugs like those gangsters he took out last night.

Of course there were some that wasn't really pleasant, but just plain ridiculous.

Sitting near him on his left was his friend Rivalz Cardemonde, who was the only other boy on the council besides himself while to his right was Shirley Fenette and lastly sitting in front of her computer where she usually spends her time was Nina Einstein, the most shy and reserved of their group.

* * *

Later on after Lelouch was finished with reworking the budget for the third time this month the young man returned to his home which was in the Student Council Clubhouse as a favor to him and his sister, but of course a little manipulation through magic did help things along. Hiding in the Ashford Academy was not an easy choice, but thanks to help from Sirzechs things had been taken care of while precautions were put into place to prevent any short of problems from the Ashford Family themselves who had supported his mother when he was alive and were ruined following her demise so they were seeking a way to regain their former glory.

Walking into the dining room before going to his room Lelouch met his younger sister who had probably just gotten out of school and was finishing up her homework.

"Welcome home brother!" Nunnally said greeting her brother with a kind smile.

"Thank you Nunnally, so I assume you had a good day today?"

"Yes I did especially during P.E." Nunnally explained, although if anyone had known her from years ago they would have question how did a girl who was crippled from the waist down and had been rendered blind because of psychological trauma had both her purple eyes open and she was capable of walking and running. It was something else was grateful for, which Sirzechs arranged to have done although recovering her sight took longer but it was the King his sister served under who had helped her the most. Lelouch was grateful for the devil she served under, but still there were some questionable issues regarding said person. "By the way big brother she is here to see you."

"You mean her?" Lelouch said as a look of worry appeared on his face while Nunnally merely giggled and had a laugh at her older brother's expense. "Alright I better go see her."

Mentally preparing himself Lelouch made his way into his room where upon entry he was met by one of the Four Devil Kings and the king of the peerage his sister served under as a Bishop.

"Welcome home Lelouch-chan!"

"Greetings…Levi-chan." Lelouch said while trying to be friendly as possible to the girl standing before him. It wasn't that he disliked her, but he found her child-like personality and her obsession with the magical girl genre difficult to handle sometimes. Not to mention some of the odd jobs he had gotten from her didn't help matters.

He knew she was much older than she appeared, but she chose the current age and appearance she had now that included wearing a alternative Magical Girl Milky Spiral Seven cosplay outfit complete with a magical staff. She had black hair tied into a pair of long pig-tails with light blue eyes and stood a little shorter than Lelouch with a difference of about inch or two. At first no one could realize that she was one of the current Four Devil Kings of the underworld and one of the strongest female devils alive.

"I got a gift for you from Ajuka-chan." Serafall Leviathan said handing Lelouch a polished black wooden box with a pink bow on top.

"Thank you said accepting the gift." Lelouch said accepting the gift before setting it down on his desk.

"And on behalf of the Devil Kings I hereby officially name you a high-class devil and a king of your own peerage so hooray!" Serafall said leaping for joy before hugging Lelouch causing the young man to blush.

Much to Lelouch's relief Serafall released him after hugging him enough.

"Now let's get down to business."

"So what is it this time?" Lelouch asked adjusting the collar of his school uniform as he regained his composure. _'She probably wants to ask me to threaten some manga artiest for doing something terrible to her favorite magical girl characters, go after some harsh critic maybe or destroy the studio developing a rival to her favorite magical girl show.' _

"You are going to Paris in the European Union to meet with Odin the ruler of Asgard." Serafall answered to the surprise of the young because in the past she had given him pointless and very odd missions.

"The Ruler of Asgard, but why?"

"Because there was an incident and you are being sent to represent us in this matter to avoid an incident." Serafall explained before putting both hands on Lelouch's shoulders. "As the head of Foreign Affairs I am asking you Lelouch to represent us well and deal with the traitor who has put us in a bad position with the folks of Asgard."

"What exactly is going on?"

"I can't tell you here, but Odin will explain everything to you. This is important to us, but the reason we have chosen you to send is because your face and identity is unknown to just about everyone beyond the underworld's leaders. Not to mention you have become quite powerful with mastering your abilities and that sword you got." Serafall said cheerfully with the utmost confidence in Lelouch.

"Alright I accept…"

"Yay…I already took care of arrangements with the school so no one should ask any questions while you are gone." Serafall said before kissing Lelouch on the cheek right before she decided leave by means of a magical transportation circle that appeared at her feet. She gave Lelouch a quick wink before vanishing leaving a surprised and blushing young man behind.

Lelouch took a moment to take a deep breath to calm his emotions as the departure left him feeling rather uncomfortable at how overly friendly Serafall could be.

"She is way too friendly, but I suppose she could be worse."

_'Considering she can easily level a small country in minutes.'_

Lelouch walked over to his desk and opened the box to reveal a complete set of black chess pieces. To the naked eye they seemed to be regular chess pieces, but Lelouch knew what they really were as a sense of pride of filled him at having earned his own set at last. On top of them Lelouch noticed a small note attached to the king piece.

Unfolding the note Lelouch began to read it.

_Thank you once again for your help with that stray devil who tried to steal my invention for me. I made these evil pieces special just for you as a token of thanks for the work you have done for us. _

_Use them well. _

_~ Ajuka Beelzebub_

_P.S. Serafall forgot to probably mention this, but Sirzechs wanted me to pass it along. When you complete your mission we must discuss the future for you now that you are a high-class devil, so don't forget it. _

Lelouch smiled contenting before putting the note down to pick up the black king chess piece. He it over his own heart before he felt the piece sink into his body merging with it completely which caused the rest of the chess pieces in the set to glow linking themselves to the single piece inside of his body.

'_All I have to do now is to find people to recruit into my peerage.' _Lelouch thought with a proud smile.

'_**Congratulations are in order partner.' **_A voice from within Lelouch spoke catching him off guard for a moment.

'_I was wondering when we were going to speak.' _

'_**I was beginning to worry you had forgotten about me, but now you have your first real major assignment. Pull this one off and you'll have the Devil Kings owing you big, so I hope you are ready.' **_The second voice within Lelouch said as the young man smiled confident in his skills and abilities.

'_I know, but at the same time I know if I mess up it could ruin everything I worked to accomplish.' _

'_**That is true, so how do you plan to handle it?'**_

'_I'll find a way to make it work, but I am taking my new evil pieces with me.' _

'_**Hoping you'll find some candidates along the way to build up your peerage?'**_

'_You never know,' _Lelouch thought with a smile picking up the Queen piece before twirling it around in his fingers of his right hand.

* * *

The following morning Milly Ashford went looking for Lelouch unaware of the young man's departure last night as he set out to accomplish his first major mission. She went straight to Nunnally during breakfast time to find the missing vice-president of the student council. Upon entering the dining room on the second floor Milly happened upon Nunnally who was dressed in her pink and plum-colored school uniform sitting behind a chair enjoying a sandwich.

"Nunnally have you seen your brother around today?"

"Oh you didn't hear?" Nunnally said with a surprised look before she could take another bite from her tuna sandwich.

"Hear what?"

"My brother is going to be out for about a week or two. He had something that came up so he'll be away for awhile. Don't worry your grandfather said ok and everything so there is nothing to worry about." The sandy blonde haired girl replied cheerfully.

"WHAT!"

"I said it was nothing to worry about." The younger girl replied to a stunned Milly as Nunnally resumed eating her lunch.

"Where did he go and what do you mean it's nothing to worry about?"

"It's exactly as I said…don't worry it's an important business trip he had to make and it couldn't wait."

Milly was stunned, but seeing that she wasn't going to get much more out of Nunnally the busty blonde was frustrated as she couldn't figure out what Lelouch was doing which would give him a whole week off on some kind of business trip.

'_That Lelouch is probably cutting class again to go gambling or something.' _Milly thought with a pouty expression on her face since he would miss the festival she had been planning.

* * *

Milly Ashford couldn't be further from the truth as half-way around the world in downtown Pairs the former prince and Devil was walking around Eiffel Tower taking in the sights. Lelouch had arrived shortly after dinner with his sister and managed to acquire a hotel to stay for the night fully aware of the time different between Japan and France. After adjusting to the time difference Lelouch had plenty of time until he rendezvous with Odin and his bodyguard, so he spent the day exploring the city to become more familiar with it.

Paris was split into two sections; modern with more modern buildings and skyscrapers which were common in the Toyko Settlement and then you had the traditional section of the city which had older buildings, palaces that the nobility built before the French Revolution. It was also here that Lelouch discovered that the city was home to many Japanese refugees who fled their homeland after Britannia conquered Japan. Unfortunately for them as they were not true Europeans or citizens of the E.U. they were forced to live in ghettos on Île de la Cité, which were cramped and overcrowded camps that bore conditions similar if not worse than the ghettos in Area 11.

They may have been safe from Britannian persecution, but they were looked down upon greatly by the people of the European Union.

'_At least the people in Area 11 had more space to move around in.' _Lelouch thought as he was disgusted with the E.U. regarding their treatment of refugees from Japan. _'Only differences I see between Britannia and the E.U. are two things. One the difference in military between the E.U. and Britannia is that of heaven and earth with the E.U. having the worse and divided military. Second their treatment of its non-European citizens or those from outside of Europe is no different than Britannia.'_

'_**Sounds to me you are painting them with the same brush you paint Britannia with.'**_

'_The difference between the two is government, but even with a democracy the E.U. is in far worse shape than Britannia because their elected leaders are more concerned for their own standing and approval ratings than what is best for the country. Furthermore their military isn't really unified as that of Britannia's as the E.U. rely on state-based militia with some special forces and some armies, but lately much of their forces have been more interested in saving their own skins and escaping than fighting for their country abandoning the countries that fall under Britannian occupation where they could have made a difference.' _Lelouch explained as he was sickened by how far the Union had fallen. He had once considered using them as allies in a different time when he made his move to crush Britannia but it's obvious they would have been useless to him. Maybe the countries that had suffered under the incompetence of the E.U. might have made better allies.

'_**From what you are saying it sounds like the E.U. has only a few more years of life.' **_

'_If Britannia doesn't conquer them the string of losses and territory they will lose will lead to the collapse of their government and I am sure other member nations will probably jump ship.' _

Lelouch was shaken from his thoughts as a black limo pulling up along the sidewalk he had been walking along. After putting the vehicle into park a beautiful young woman appearing to be around the same age as Lelouch with long, silver hair and light blue eyes wearing a simple blue business suit complete with a red tie stepped out of the driver's side of the limo.

The young woman walked around approaching Lelouch asking, "Are you Lelouch Lamperouge?"

"I am…and you are?"

"I am Rossweisse, I am the bodyguard to Odin of Asgard," Rossweisse said introducing herself to Lelouch while at the same moment the window of the limo was rolled down on the passage side revealing an elderly man with long, grey hair and a matching beard. He wears a metal eye patch over his left eye while the rest of his attire was made up of black robes wearing a large hat on his head. "He wishes to speak with you urgently."

"I was told as much," Lelouch said approaching the car.

"So you are the young man Sirzechs and little Serafall recommended to me who could get the job done." Odin said opening the door for Lelouch to enter the limo. Rossweisse returned to her spot as the driver, so once she was back in the driver's seat the limo drove off as the chief deity of Norse mythology and Lelouch began a conversation.

"I am Lelouch Lamperouge here on behalf of the Four Devil Kings I am here to provide assistance, but Lady Serafall did not share with me the specifics of the situation that summoned here of all places." Lelouch said greeting Odin properly.

"I can't say I heard much about you, but maybe that will be our advantage in this." Odin said examining the boy before continuing the conversation. "Yes it's a delicate situation, but because of this location I am concerned about the other factions active in his country could become entangled in this affair. I need it taken care of quickly and quietly."

"What happened exactly?"

"There was a break-in; someone stole the Casket of Eternal Winters from my treasure vault. I am a little embarrassed by the situation. However I suspect the thieves had inside help, but I don't know who yet. I did however manage to track them to this town before I lost sight of them. I rather not have word of this get out and I would like it resolved quickly."

"I see, but why reach out to us."

"Because the break-in was aided by a devil that provided help the thieves to get through the defenses leading to the vault." Odin explained.

"I see, although you know we were not involved you want not only proof of our non-involvement in the theft but you also want to send a message that the devils were not involved by recruiting one to help in the recovery of the Casket of Ancient Winters."

"Exactly," Odin replied with a smile. "You're a sharp one…I guess Sirzechs was right about you."

Lelouch started to smile in turn.

"So if the Casket was stolen then I am to assume my enemies will likely be Jotunns. I understand they were the original owners am I right?"

"Yes those pesky frost giants, they are always a constant pain in my ass. However it's likely they are somewhere cold take for example a refrigerator storage complex, ice cream factor or even a hockey ring. Anywhere that can provide a frozen environment."

"If they were capable of getting into your vault then I doubt they would hide somewhere so obvious."

"Yes, but the Jotunns need a sub-zero environment or close to one as they can get," Odin pointed out.

"Fair enough, so it's likely they must have found another location where they could find a cold environment or create one in a suitable location that wouldn't draw notice." Lelouch said putting one hand to his chin. "Unless they are hiding at a specific location they could be mobile by means of a refrigerator truck or converted a location to produce the temperatures they need to survive. I'll probably have to check around to find any clues and signs of anything odd."

"Alright, but take Rossweisse with you for support."

"I thought you would be coming along," Lelouch asked raising an eyebrow.

"I have another matter to attend to, besides I can't be seen in the outside world. In fact you didn't see me. Hence why I am traveling around by limo instead of the usual at the moment," Odin said suspiciously.

"Sir with all due respect I think retrieving the Casket of Ancient Winters instead of going to an Oppai Club should be of greater importance," Rossweisse said with a serious expression.

"Says the Valkyrie whose age is equal to the number of years without a boyfriend," Odin shot back causing Rossweisse to tightly grip the steering wheel in anger. "Anyway I trust you are more than enough for some frost giants and I'll make sure you are properly awarded."

Lelouch was slightly irritated by Odin intending to leave the grunt work for him, but he still he had a job to do and even if it wasn't going to be easy then accomplishing this would be a good way to build good ties with Odin and Asgard if he pulled this off.

"Very well I'll take care of the matter. It will take time to find some leads to their whereabouts but I will accomplish this as quickly as I can."

"Excellent," Odin said pleased that Lelouch agreed.

The limo eventually came to a stop in front of a hotel where another woman who seemed around the same age as Odin's bodyguard came around to the driver's side to take over for Rossweisse as she reluctantly stepped out of the limo and allowing the replacement to take over for her. The limo drove off leaving both Lelouch and Rossweisse standing together as the young man looked to the Valkyrie.

"I guess we're working together."

"Yes we are…I hope you'll find me more agreeable to work with than my…charge." Rossweisse said with a tint of anger in her voice.

"Don't worry about it, but anything you could tell me about the details of what happened and how they fled to this country might help me in finding a lead to track them down." Lelouch said before he gestured for Rossweisse to follow him into a nearby alleyway. Once he was sure no one was around Lelouch opened up his right hand as a purple magical circle appeared above his open hand. A moment later a black raven appeared before hopping onto Lelouch's shoulder.

"Listen I need you to fly around and try to get me anything on unusual activities in the city that might involve extreme cold or anything potentially related to it." Lelouch said giving instructions to his familiar who nodded in understanding. "Good now find me if you come across anything of use."

"What was that?"

"My familiar…I named him Hiro."

"So what is our first move?"

"Tell me everything you know about the theft."

"We didn't see what happened exactly, but from an examination of the scene that was done we know Frost Giants were involved, but oddly all of the defensive barriers were unlocked so the enemy had to only face the guards protecting the vault doors." Rossweisse explained before Lelouch asked a question.

"I assume you had alarms correct, so I presume they were disabled?"

"Yes you are correct, which is why Odin suspects there is a traitor who helped them."

"Who could have provided the means for them to get through the barriers and prevent the alarms from going off?"

"Odin and his sons Thor and Loki including members of Odin's elite guards who protect the vault while bodyguards such as a myself are given that information in the event we are captured to be interrogated." The woman explained.

"I see, so if my mythology is right then Loki might a possible suspect. However were all of the guards protecting the vault accounted for?"

"Yes, but all of them were killed."

"I see, but were there any former guards who might have had knowledge. Someone who retired who might have had the knowledge needed to get through the barriers and keep the alarms from being sounded?"

"You mean if someone who had retired had possibly helped them?" Rossweisse asked before Lelouch nodded his head in response. "There was one, but we haven't been able to find any traces of him."

"Who was he?"

"He was a guard named Loken who retired from his post two years ago having served as an elite guard for over fifty years."

"Do you have any idea on his last location?"

"No, but according to Odin he was last seen operating his own transportation service in Scandinavia as a pilot. He had a passion for flying apparently so he wanted to spend his retirement as a pilot transporting small goods."

Lelouch contemplated the information he had been given for a moment before he said. "That sounds oddly convenient, but that gives me an idea we can follow up on."

"What are you planning?"

"We need to find the local criminal underbelly and black market trading posts. It's possible the casket could have been smuggled out after they broken in with Loken's help and expecting it to be in the hands of Frost Giants they needed someone who could transport it more discreetly without drawing notice. But assuming he is the one responsible he is trying to trade it off or help the Jotunns acquire what they need for their hideout. If anything has been smuggled illegally then we might find some information there."

"Odin managed to track it here, but lost track of it soon afterwards so someone knew what they were doing so there might be something to your suspicions after all." Rossweisse said, although she didn't agree with it she knew it was probably their best lead they could follow up on until something else came up.

* * *

Their search took the rest of the day as the sun was beginning to set, so after checking all of the likely and seediest of places around the city the two had come to another location which was a construction site. Although the sun was setting it was unusual that construction was seemingly going on, which drew Lelouch's attention as he and Rossweisse cautiously approached the site. The location was a site for constructing an underground tunnel to create an underground railway system, which was obviously far from completion.

Ducking out of site Lelouch brought forth six-pairs of demonic bat-like wings to fly over the gate quickly before entering the tunnel and keeping close to the ceiling to avoid being spotted. Rossweisse was forced to find her own way in, but she wouldn't be too far behind as Lelouch kept high close to the ceiling before finding a wooden scaffold to land upon. It seemed Lelouch did indeed find an illegal exchange going on, but it was obvious from high up that the deal had gone sour.

He saw several men armed with automatic weapons trailing their guns upon a group of teenagers, Japanese teenagers by the looks of them. The henchmen seemed like locals wearing varied casual clothing including jackets, but their leader stood out as the man despite being in his sixties was surprisingly well built for his age with a muscular figure and a bald head armed with sword that seemed identical those seen in Norse Folklore. His white business suit was an obvious indication he was the leader making Lelouch wonder if he was Loken.

'_It looks like we hit pay dirt.' _Lelouch thought with a smile especially as he saw magical power gather into the blade the elderly man wielded.

'_**There is no question about it. That man is an Asgardian; he stands out like a sore thumb among these humans.' **_The voice that came from the weapon Lelouch carried within him said confirming Lelouch's suspicions.

'_We'll rescue the teenagers as well…they might know something.' _

'_**Let's do it then!'**_

"Awaken Arondight!" Lelouch said summoning the corrupted holy sword into his hands before he was clad in the black nightmarish armor he had become famous among the Four Devil Kings for.

Leaping down from the scaffolding Lelouch released a demonic roar seconds before cleaving the first henchman in two with his sword before quickly cutting down another by slicing his head off. With speed that was just terrifying the demonic knight engaged the terrified henchmen head on as they began unloading whole magazines against him, but their bullets bounced off his armor harmlessly. Seemingly gilding across the ground on his feet the demonic being cut down another henchman before moving onto another one.

"What the fuck is that!" One of the Japanese teen said, being the oldest of the group wearing a black leather jacket with pants and short spiky brown hair.

Lelouch kicked some of the weapons of the fallen henchmen towards the three teens to arm them.

"You think that guy is on our side?" The second male of the trio asked who like their leader had green eyes and short combed brown hair.

"Who cares?" Ryo Sayama declared picking up the weapon and readying it for use.

"I saw we get out of here while the going is good." Yukiya Naruse suggested picking up a weapon.

"Yeah, but let's kill that bastard for backstabbing us and going back on the deal we had." Ryo said as he took the safety off the weapon he held in his hand while looking for the old man.

The only female of their group with black hair and pink eyes preferred her wakizashi instead of a gun, but as the group sought out the boss of the men who were being slaughtered as more reinforcements came with Lelouch cutting them down.

Things got worse for them when Rossweisse joined the fray using magic to transform into her Valkyrie combat attire consisting of a white breastplate with gold and pale blue accents and matching, fingerless gauntlets, boots, hip guards, and wing-shaped hair clips. She was also wearing a black leotard underneath her breastplate, black thigh-high stockings, and a pale blue cloth wrap underneath her hip guards, all of which are clad with pink lacing along with her hair clips. Armed with her spear Rossweisse joined Lelouch and began dispatching of Loken's men as the elderly former Asgardian Elite Guard was nowhere to be seen.

Ryo was the first to spot Loken who was trying to slip away as Lelouch and Rossweisse was finishing off the last of his men before they would proceed to hunt down the criminal to interrogate him. Opening fire on the man Ryo was shocked when Loken dodged with speed almost matching that of Lelouch before rushing the Japanese teen with his sword drawn ready to cut him down. Ayano tried to come to Ryo's defense, but despite her best efforts as she deflected his first two strikes Ayano failed to block a third strike resulting in her being slashed across the stomach by Loken.

"AYANO!" Ryo cried out before he became enraged and tried to attack Loken in a blind rage but he was swiftly kicked back with a swift roundhouse kick to the chest. Loken would have finished him off, but a spray of bullets from Yukiya saved Ryo forcing Loken back.

Lucky for the two teens Rossweisse and Lelouch joined the fight as the Valkyrie opened up her attack with a magic circle forming in front of her free hand releasing explosive bullets which nearly hit the aged former guard as Loken was forced onto the defensive using magic to shield himself. Lelouch moved in planning to rush the former guard head on and engage him in melee with his sword. The black knight flanked Loken from the left-hand side as the aged warrior was fleeing back before he was forced to clash blades against Lelouch as the two engaged in a fierce melee between the two. Sparks flew as their blades met and despite how old Loken appeared to be his skill and strength clearly hasn't diminished in the slightest.

But Lelouch was no amateur as he was trained in swordsmanship by Souji Okita, a member of Sirzechs's peerage and famed as one of the best swordsmen of the underworld.

Lelouch could match every parry and despite the large size of his sword he swung it and effortless intercepted every swing Loken made pushing the former elite guard back as he began to overpower him. Seeing an opening Lelouch head butted Loken in the face stunning him long enough for Lelouch to disarm him by cutting off his hand holding his sword before using magic to bind the wounded Asgardian followed by Rossweisse who used her magic to put a number of seals in place to keep Loken from fleeing.

"We got him." Rossweisse said proudly.

"Yes, but they lost one." Lelouch said after his helmet opened up revealing his face. "Call Odin and tell him we caught Loken we're going to need a place to interrogate him."

"Right!" Rossweisse said as she went about contacting Odin the black knight approached the grieving Ryo while his accomplice and friend looked on sadly.

Ayano Kosaka had died from her wounds, but as Lelouch approached Ryo looked up at him.

"What do you want?"

"I am sorry about what happened, but-" Lelouch began as he contemplated something. "I had wanted to ask you about your dealings with that man over there, but I could offer something else in exchange for that information and more."

"Whatever it is we're not interested." Ryo snapped with tears still in his eyes.

"Even if it means I could bring your friend back to life?"

Ryo was stunned, but Yukiya was quick to catch on to something about that offer considering Lelouch's previous statement.

"What is the catch?"

"The catch is that your friend becomes a devil like me." Lelouch said summoning his devil wings to illustrate his point to the shock of Ryo and Yukiya. "Of course in exchange she will have to serve under me, but I can make the offer to the rest of you as well. Becoming a devil means being introduced to a whole new world you never knew about, but with it you'll gain power and the possibility to advance yourself in the underworld. Like me you can rise from a servant and become your own king once you prove yourself worthy. It took awhile for me, but I managed it. But what is it that you want through?"

"What we want is a home that is just for us." Ryo said locking eyes with Lelouch as the two men regarded one another silently for a time.

"Interesting then perhaps we can work together. I wish for a new world, a better one…perhaps what you seek can be found along the way." Lelouch offered.

Ryo began to grin in response.

"Become a devil huh…if you bring Ayano back I'll accept."

"Very well then I'll show you a miracle." Lelouch said transforming back into his normal form after dismissing Arondight. From his pocket he drew out a Rook piece. The former prince laid it on top of Ayano's heart before he rose up and held his hands over her. "What was her full name?"

"Ayano Kosaka…" Yukiya answered.

A purple magical circle appeared under Ayano's corpse as Lelouch began to recite the following lines.

"In the name of Lelouch Lamperouge I call upon Ayano Kosaka to hear my command. Return thy soul from the shadow of death to the human realm to rise once more as my demon servant." Lelouch said as the girl grew brighter before Ryo and Yukiya saw the rook sitting over her heart begin to sink into her chest seemingly melting away into nothing. "Rejoice…for you have been given new life! Now wake as my warrior and thy new defender with the power I grant you!"

The ritual ended and to the amazement of Ryo and Yukiya the wound on Ayano's torso vanished like it had never been there. A few moments later and the young girl opened her eyes seemingly unaware of her own death not too long ago.

"What happened to me?" Ayano said sitting up rubbing the back of her head.

"He did…he brought her back." Yukiya said in shock as what he witnessed defies all known science.

"So Lelouch huh…well I didn't think you would do it, but I am not exactly sure about this servant thing." Ryo said as he had some reservations.

"Don't worry I am not looking for a maid or anything of the short, but I think I can find ways to make it worth your wild…so the question I have for you is are you ready to leave your life as a human behind and enter a whole new world as my demon servant. Serve me well and you can earn the right to be your own king like me…the choice is yours." Lelouch said extending his hand.

* * *

A/N: Will Ryo and his friend accept Lelouch's offer and can they together recover the Casket of Ancient Winters for Odin?

Find out next chapter…

And yes Nunnally is a bishop in Serafall's peerage.

Now to pick up where I left off from the beginning, so to first nail the question on the harem and its upcoming members I have so far decided on Rossweisse will be the first member of the harem while I got a list/poll of the other choices I am contemplating on my profile. I am very unhappy that I am resorting to a poll again, but trying to settle on some good choices that would be good for the story has been difficult.

You have ten choices to vote for and for those wondering why I didn't add certain characters is partly because their personalities like those of Nina (her xenophobia mostly), Dorothea, Oldrin and Villetta make it difficult to include them, although Raynare falls under this category as well but I am going to try it because I am trying to include more diversity in the harem by not just having devils or former humans in it. Others like Cecile I didn't add because I wasn't sure how to really use them or justify their involvement with Lelouch with him and his peerage which is why I could include Sayoko since her combat skills would make her a useful addition to his peerage and making her a good candidate for the harem. Granted I agree it would be been something new to use Cecile or some others, but I got to justify it and not just throw them in there if you know what I mean.

There are some like Xenovia, Irina or Tsubaki I would like to try out along with a mix of CG characters to compliment them. Although Ayano, Leila and a few others on the CG side I have been interested in trying, but trying to decide the best ones has been driving me nuts.

How the harem will go will depend on which I can build up on with either Sona or Rias (I would love to do Rias, but so far Sona and Lelouch seem more compatible), I don't think I could pull off both all things considered (but we'll see how the rest of the story goes) and I must also be considerate of Issei since he is the main character of DxD. Now I will say this through I don't bash characters unless I REALLY hate them like Makoto Ito from School Days, but I will poke fun at some of the characters including Lelouch for the sake of both fairness and the fact it's fun sometimes too.

So that's all for now and chapter three should be out soon, so I will leave the poll up until then which I hope it will hit at least one hundred votes for a good result (it has 26 as of the moment this chapter was posted). It won't be the final deciding factor since ultimately how the plot and events in the story will determine who gets into the harem, but I will give as many of the candidates as possible a fair shot at Lelouch and those who build up the best chemistry are in. The polls will help me in my thought process through and maybe settle on some good candidates for consideration.

See you next chapter and thanks in advance for the reviews.


	3. Chapter 3 A Pawn can defeat a king

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews and favorites this story got, which is well over a hundred which is very shocking.

This chapter took me much longer to complete only because I ended up rewriting it a few times because I wasn't pleased with how it was starting out.

I know some…or rather one person has complained about Lelouch being out of character, but I chose to go this route because I thought he could be more original and Lelouch has a preference of obtaining power on his own without it being given to him as in the case of C.C. giving him his Geass. He actually notes this while thinking about it, but he knows it would be foolish it not to make useful of it so it's another indication of how prideful Lelouch can be as well as another indication of his desire to be self-sufficient. I am doing my best to keep his character as close to his canon self as possible with what I am working with he is just tougher and better prepared, both mentally and physically, than he was in canon.

I do have some plans in mind on how Lelouch is going to contend with Britannia, but I plan on it being very different from canon and to more adapt with other events going on around him such as matters dealing with the Khaos Brigade. But for now events from this chapter on will have Lelouch focused on building up his peerage and his introduction and establishment as a high-ranking member of devil society. He has earned his place, which is something he is proud of, but he will be dealing with the problems that come with it as Sirzechs and Serafall will explain to him in the coming chapters.

Depending on who else Lelouch is paired with I did contemplate the idea of Lelouch establishing his own household/clan in the underworld or if he marries Sona or Rias he would become co-head of said family with his wife. I am somewhat reluctant to go the he establishes his own clan/household route because I know some other DxD crossovers have done this already. But I am leaving the option open depending on how events in the story play out.

Anyway on with the chapter…

* * *

Chapter 3

A Pawn can defeat a king

"Now where is the casket of ancient winters?" Odin said without a single shred of friendliness in his tone as he loomed over a beaten and battered, but completely terrified Loken who had defiantly resisted torture much to Odin's growing frustration.

"I have nothing to say to you old man." Loken said coughing up some blood.

"Old…you hardly look young yourself." Odin said before nodding to one of his Valkyrie followers who grabbed one of Loken's hands before pressing it down onto a small table another Valkyrie brought before that same female warrior drew a dagger preparing to begin to cut fingers off.

"Now one more time...where is it?"

"Ugh….no!" Loken said trying to prepare himself for what was coming.

Loken screamed as one of his fingers was getting cut off, which was music to Ryo's ears. Although he would have preferred him to have been killed painfully, but being viciously tortured by a pair of Valkyries and Odin made up for it. His mood was only soured by the choice of role he had gotten from Lelouch despite the latter's assurances that it gave him more versatility on the field. Inside another room, which was an old office used by the former owners of the warehouse they were in Lelouch had finished explaining everything to the new members of his peerage, which included his new Rook.

Yukiya who had been the most eager to relinquish his humanity and become a devil had been made a pawn since Yukiya didn't have much in terms of special abilities or certain skills. He contemplated a rook or a knight for Ryo at least, but he decided something else instead.

"Why the hell did you make me a pawn?!" Ryo snapped.

"Because you didn't really much in terms of special magical abilities or talents that was enough for me to justify using another rook or one of my knights on. Besides you can promote yourself when in enemy territory to whatever piece you want including a queen which I think can benefit you more." Lelouch replied calmly. "I started out as a pawn, which I don't like to admit, but I can speak from experience that it's not as bad as position as some might think."

"Remember Ryo…a pawn can take down a king, so don't worry about it." Yukiya said trying to calm his friend.

"Anyway as much as I would like to begin training all of you on how to use your new powers and abilities you have as a devil now I still have a task to complete. I wanted to ask you three about what kind of deal you had going on with Loken?"

Calming down a bit Ryo took a deep breath and began to explain.

"We were transport illegal arms for him, but it wasn't the usual stuff like guns. We were moving flamethrowers for him."

"After some trouble we managed to get them on our end, but after we delivered them we didn't receive our pay so a few days later we came back demanding our pay. You saw how that went." Yukiya explained.

"I see…it obvious he probably planned on covering up the deal." Lelouch said, but he was wondering why Loken needed flamethrowers and he was being so secretive about it. "He didn't by chance mention what those flamethrowers were for?"

"No he didn't." Ayano replied.

"I am beginning to wonder if the Frost Giants weren't the only ones involved in this. Because the materials you were getting for him don't sound like something you would provide beings who can survive in sub-zero environments with unless you were planning to betray them." Lelouch said reasoning that Loken must have been planning to eliminate the Frost Giants who helped them. Either it was because their environmental requirements made them easy to track, something else Lelouch was yet unaware of, or both.

"Well who else would be interested in a relic like the casket?" Yukiya asked.

"Considering its capabilities of blanketing the landscape in a flashing-freezing winter storm I imagine there would be a number of interested parties." Lelouch answered as he held one hand to his chin as he began thinking. "The EU would probably be interested in using it as a weapon against Britannia, but they don't have the knowledge or a method of really using it properly. Other groups like Fallen Angels and renegade devils would probably try to use it for similar purposes, but unlike the EU they would have more of the means and understanding of the relic to make it work."

"But that doesn't shorten the list of possible suspects then." Yukiya pointed out, which Lelouch agreed with him silently as he was thinking.

"Wasn't there anyone who Loken normally dealt with on a regular basis?"

"The only one I remember is that pig Johann Malcal, one of the sons of Lord Malcal of the famed Malcal Family." Ayano said without trying to hide her disgust for the man in her voice. "Some of the times we came to get a job from Loken that guy was always there getting something from him or helping Loken with one of his transports of illegal goods. He has ties to the government and military through his family, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was partly involved with Loken's illegal smuggling enterprise."

"Yeah I remember that prick too and maybe…he might be involved in this." Ryo said in agreement after giving the matter some thought.

"Maybe, but he is our only lead who might give us something. Even if he is not involved in this mess if he has worked with Loken as closely as you say then there must be something." Lelouch said concluding that right now Johann was probably their best chance for some good leads. If his nobility status was as high he was hearing then if Loken wanted to move something without anyone knowing about it then he could be the most likely person to turn to.

"Do any of you happen to know where he lives?"

Ryo and the others knew where the Malcal Family lived, but it wasn't certain that Johann would be there. Nevertheless Lelouch thought it would be good to check it out and so for the mission he brought the new members of his peerage with him. After explaining his intentions to Odin the elderly god dispatched Rossweisse to accompany them while Odin and the rest of his escort would deal with Loken trying to get more information out of him. The former elite guard was proving to be a very tough nut to crack, but Odin didn't give up and took steps to ensure the man would live no matter what the god did to him.

* * *

It was well after midnight when Lelouch and others arrived on the outskirts of the Malcal Estate the group observed the castle that occupied the center of a vast lush forest landscape. Even through the Union was ruled by a democratic government by means of its council much of what once ruled the European Nations remains, which included the nobility who had survived all of the various changes throughout the years since the E.U.'s founding. Despite the Union was supposed to be a control ran and operated for the will of the people the former Britannian Prince was finding that much of the Union was still influenced by the nobility on some level. Maybe not quite as much as Britannia itself, but Lelouch was having trouble trying to find any good or redeeming qualities that the European Union and Britannia was really different from one another.

"Let's try not to cause any disturbances…we go in we find Johann, but if he is not here we'll check his room for anything that could tell us something." Lelouch explained to the assembled group before bringing out his devil wings.

Using their wings for the first time the group followed Lelouch towards the castle, although he had to carry Rossweisse with him since he was the only one strong enough to do. Conducting a careful search of the castle the group peered into one of the rooms. Lelouch wasn't sure where Johann kept his room, but they would just need to find someone to interrogate. Perhaps if they could find a maid to question her they could learn about anything that might come off as potentially odd to help them in the investigation. Then once they were done use memory alteration magic to cover up their presence.

Lelouch examined the lock on the balcony window before using magic to unlock it allowing him to walk inside.

Donning his armor as the black metallic armor materialized around him the young man gazed around the room looking for signs of anyone present. Even if Lelouch could alter the memories of anyone he came across he determined if it was best that no one saw him, but as a further precaution to protect his true identity he told Ryo and the others not to refer to him by name before arriving on the castle's outskirts. Judging from the interior of the room the group had found the castle library, although it wasn't exactly what Lelouch was searching for but they could find something here.

A computer at a desk in a corner of the room was unexpected and surprising.

"Ok Yukiya you're up." Lelouch said quietly to his new pawn as the young man turned on the machine. Even through the computer was password protected Yukiya quickly proved his skills as a hacker using them to bypass it and get inside the castle's computer systems which unsurprisingly were all networked together. Once inside Yukiya began searching for Johann's location as well as searching the family database for anything suspicious or potential blackmail material they can use to ensure his cooperation. The rest of his group kept watch as Yukiya worked as he was effortlessly breaking through all of the security measures the Malcal Family had in place, so it wasn't long before he had access to everything.

"I am in and I'll let you know if I find anything juicy." Yukiya said with a grin as he had open access to everything the Malcal Family had in their database.

"Good work." Lelouch noted before he sensed a presence that left him alert.

Lelouch was ready to attack, but he restrained himself when he realized the presence he was detecting was a human. But as he was ready to pounce upon the human approaching their location Lelouch began to worry as he soon felt other presences that were not human. He cursed himself internally for not noticing them, but he realized these presences have been trying to hide themselves. Despite this a smile appeared beneath the mask he wore as he might get lucky this night and possibly recover the casket of ancient winters or find information that could lead him right to it.

"Ayano stay with Yukiya and keep him safe as he works. You are with me." Lelouch said gesturing to Ryo.

When the human those presence Lelouch has noticed entered the room Ryo moved to restrain her quickly before to his surprise as a blonde haired woman wearing a pink robe swiftly grabbed Ryo before flipping him over flooring him. Reacting quickly Lelouch grabbed the woman and quickly restrained her, because unlike Ryo she did not have a chance to counter Lelouch. Of course the intimidating presence of his armor might have helped as she saw the woman's face express shock and horror before Lelouch was upon her.

"One scream and I'll kill you and everyone else here. I want information on Johann Malcal…give me what I need and I'll let you live." Lelouch said quickly before the woman would attempt to call for help.

"You're not with them?" Leila Malcal asked.

"With who exactly?"

At that moment a pair of soldiers wearing armor wielding pikes entered the room, but from their backs were a pair of black angelic wings. Rossweisse was quick to get involved as Lelouch realized Leila to deal with the Fallen Angels who had been clearly the ones chasing after Leila, but now the situation had become even more complicated. The first Fallen Angel soldier parried the Rossweisse's attack before exchanging blows while Lelouch attacked the second Fallen Angel using a fury of sword strikes in an effort to overpower and crush his foe. Lelouch was a terrifying foe to face as his sword and the potent strength he possessed left him to be a handful for the soldier as he tried valiantly to fend off Lelouch, but after an exchange of sword and pike swings Lelouch slid the blade along the side of the pike slicing off the fingers of the Fallen Angel. Once his weapon fell to the ground Lelouch delivered a swift kick to his torso slamming him against the wall.

Similar Rossweisse had just won her fight as she killed her foe instead using an opening she made to impale the Fallen Angel through the head.

"Rossweisse guard the door and get ready for anything else." Lelouch ordered before he helped Ryo to his feet. "Relax this is just a rough first day on the job for you."

"I got turned into a devil and not even twenty four hours I get floored by a normal human."

"You just haven't had time to adjust yet, but right now I got some questions to ask Miss." Lelouch began turning his attention to the woman.

"Leila…Leila Malcal."

"Miss Malcal what can you tell me about Johann? We're seeking him for questions regarding a valuable relic that has been stolen." Lelouch inquired.

"I found something Zero." Yukiya announced as he was already copying the files to an external hard drive he had brought along to keep a copy of everything they find. "It looks like Loken and Johann have been quite chummy from what I am finding here. It looks like he has been involved with almost every major deal he had."

"Is there anything about the relic?"

"Yeah I got something here that says he received the package from Asgard. It's being moved to a research facility in the Forest of Fontainebleau controlled by the Military. Johann himself has apparently left, but there is nothing explaining why these Fallen Angels are here."

"Why don't we ask?" Lelouch said turning his attention to the Fallen Angel he had disabled by slicing off his fingers. "What was your purpose here tonight?"

"This thing along with a number of others were killing and executing members of my family including the servants living here." Leila explained.

The Fallen Angel didn't respond, but Lelouch stabbed him in his shoulder slowly twisting the blade. The Fallen Angel cried out in agony.

"I will ask again…what was your mission? If you refuse to answer we'll simply take you back with us where I am sure Odin would love to have a few words with you." The former prince warned with a dark tone of voice.

Just as Lelouch pulled out his blade and was about to repeat the process again the Fallen Angel raised its hand.

"Please stop…we were ordered to wipe out the Malcal Family on orders from Kokabiel. He was furious that Johann went back on their deal saying something about another group making him a better offer. He wanted us to find Johann and bring him to him for a lesson, but we were ordered to wipe out his family to drive his point home on how displeased he was."

"I see, so Kokabiel is involved in this." Rossweisse said tapping one finger on her chin. "I'll send him to Odin for safe keeping."

"WHAT?" The Fallen Angel said before Rossweisse teleported him away using magic before he had a chance to protest further. She quickly wrote up a short letter before using the same magic to teleport it as well explaining what they have learned so far.

"Yukiya did you get everything?" Lelouch asked.

"Already done and I downloaded a few other things worth taking a look over."

"Good, but what to do with you?" Zero said looking to the young blonde haired woman.

"Her family has been wiped out, so I don't know about leaving her here." Rossweisse pointed out.

"True, but to go this far-" Zero began before he stopped midway as he collected his thoughts and began contemplating the pros and cons of the decision before him. On one hand it could give him a chance to recruit another to his peerage, but unlike Ryo and his friends he didn't know about any skills she has that could be of benefit. One thing he was certain of through was that if the military was involved along with Fallen Angels then this was much bigger than he and even Odin could have expected.

Concerning Leila herself Lelouch knew what information he was able to gather on the Malcal Family with the limited time he had. He knew Leila wasn't a blood relative of Johann, but she was actually adopted into the family after her birth parents had been killed when she was young. Despite being adopted her new father decided to have Johann marry her once she was old enough, which Lelouch got the suspicion that was something Leila could not have been happy with. Preferably he would have liked to had come to the Malcal Estate with every bit of information he could get on them and their estate which would have made things a little easier in knowing where to search for Johann, but considering he had little time as Lelouch was certain Johann and whoever else was working with him would seek to move the Casket of Ancient Winters as soon as possible. Lelouch couldn't risk allowing the trail to grow cold, which could cause his mission to fail.

On one hand he hated going into this without adequate information on the locations he would need to reach to recover the relic, but the former prince understood he simply had to deal with the situation as best he could with what he had on hand.

"We'll take her with us. She might have some information that could be useful."

"I'll take her back to the warehouse with me." Rossweisse said before she took Leila, who didn't protest, and teleported away.

"You really think she is going to know anything?" Ryo inquired once the pair was gone.

"Possibly, but she could be useful. She knew Johann and understanding his personality and mind set could be useful when planning on how to approach him. Because I doubt if he was willing to backstab the Fallen Angels then he must stronger help or he has something else that doesn't make him fear retaliation from them." Lelouch said while weighing and considering a large number of possibilities in his mind regarding the type of opposition they could be facing when they track down Johann.

'_Knowing how he thinks will help me anticipate or devise a number of potential counters, but I'll need more information on what exactly he has protecting him if anything.' _Lelouch thought, but considering the fact he was willing to back out of a deal against someone like Kokabiel, one of the strongest Fallen Angels alive, meant that the Malcal Family member must have some trump card to deal with him. Because the idea that a mere human would go against and double cross someone like Kokabiel would have to be extremely stupid.

Until Lelouch knew more the young man decided to act on the assumption Johann has potent protection at his disposal. Once they were done Lelouch and his group fled the estate, but not before taking great care to cover up evidence of their presence.

* * *

Instead of returning straight to Odin the former prince and his newly formed peerage made their way to the Forest of Fontainebleau where the research facility was supposedly hidden. Along the way however Lelouch made sure to stop by a military depot on the way to acquire a few things for his group including a computer Yukiya could use. Once they arrived in the area, Lelouch and the rest of his group set up temporary camp to rest and recover their strength. Each of them took turns watching over one another, but during Yukiya's turn he was tasked with by Lelouch to hack into the research facility and get details on its layout and its defenses. By the time nightfall came and the group had more than enough time to rest after journeying from the Malcal Estate the newly reincarnated devils listened to Lelouch as he laid out his plan.

"Thanks to Yukiya we have a complete layout of the base and what its defenses look like." Lelouch said as Yukiya used his new military-grade portable computer to show Ryo and Ayano a map of the facility.

"It has your standard secret research military base set up including heat sensors, motion sensors and heavy security doors, but what is different is the fact that the base has been given a large number of holy relics and crosses turning the base into holy ground."

"I assume because we are devils we can't go in there then?" Ryo said which Lelouch nodded confirming his suspicions.

"Yes, but I can."

"But devils can't walk onto holy ground right?" Ayano asked.

"Yes, but I have always been different from other devils. I have a kind of resistance where I can endure holy water, walking into a church without any ill effects and take shots from a light gun and sword without slowing down as long as no vital areas are hit." Lelouch explained as this was something Sirzechs and Ajuka had noticed about him. It was an accidental discovery as Lelouch had been picking up a cross on the ground when pursuing a target at one time before Grayfia noticed Lelouch was completely unharmed from it.

Of course he wasn't invulnerable to all holy relics as holy swords like those on the level of Excalibur were capable of harming him greatly, so only those relics and weapons of high divine attributes could do some real damage to Lelouch.

Ajuka suspected this was due to the angelic blood Lelouch had in his veins, but somehow Lelouch doubted that something like that was the case. Possibly a factor he believed, but beyond that he doubted that was the reason behind it. Lelouch knew there was more, but Sirzechs and Ajuka were unwilling to tell him preferring to wait until the time was right.

"I'll slip inside and try to make my way to the relic, but I doubt I will be able to reach it easily and there is a high probability of combat." Lelouch said as he was contemplating the two dozen different stratagems he had in mind. "However to cover our bases I want all of you to cover the emergency exit the base has, so if I am discovered before I can acquire the relic the rest of you will be in a position to intercept them."

Lelouch was confident he could obtain the Casket of Ancient Winters on his own, but he knew it would be foolish to arrogantly believe that nothing could go wrong. After the dozens of different plans he thought up he chose this one as the best one since it offered him more flexibility to change tactics accordingly in the event if things do go south regardless if he is discovered or if an unforeseen complication arose.

'_If I had more people and resources I could have put together a much better plan than this, but whatever they are working on in there needs to be stopped.' _Lelouch thought as he was trying to deduce what was the opposition planning to do with the casket of ancient winters.

From what information Yukiya has been able to hack from the base it was clear they were working to weaponize the relic for military purposes. Lelouch considered the fact they were probably hoping to use it against Britannia since the war between them and the EU has been going badly for them so far. However there was the possibly to consider that the other major factors would like intervene since it is an unspoken rule among the various supernatural powers and factions in the world that the existence of the supernatural will not be revealed to humanity at large.

'_Unless they plan on using it discreetly I am sure using the casket like that would draw attention from the other factions, so what exactly are their intentions for it?' _The former prince contemplated, but regardless he deduced if they were weaponizing it he would have to consider the possibly that it might be used against him if he wasn't careful.

He ruled out that a frontal assault was out of the question, but thanks to Yukiya he had another way in.

"Yukiya will monitor the inside of the base and help me through it. If I can reach the casket of ancient winters without provoking combat against the base's defenders then even better, but we'll use these to keep in contact." Lelouch explained before bringing out a number of small lights from his pocket. "Just put these in your ear and they'll allow us to communicate using magic."

"So this is some real...magical spy stuff?" Ryo said looking at the small magical dot he was handed with a raised eyebrow before placing it into his ear.

"You don't even notice it." Yukiya said as he put his into his ear and Ayano did the same.

At that time Rossweisse rejoined the group by using magic to teleport to their location catching the group by surprise for a moment when she first appeared.

"Forgive me for taking this long to return, but I had to explain to Odin the situation and find a place for the young woman you had me teleport away so she wouldn't be bothered." The Valkyrie explained.

"Not at all, but in fact you have arrived just in time." Lelouch said before taking a few moments to explain his plan and he decided on what kind of role the Valkyrie could have within said plan.

Rossweisse's role would be to provide support for Ayano, Ryo and Yukiya, although she could have entered the base with Lelouch the former prince was worried about leaving his new peerage members unattended since they hadn't had a chance to get use to being devils and adapting more to the other changes their transformation brought.

"I'll stay here and support Ryo and the others, but are you sure about going in there by yourself?"

"Ideally I would like you to accompany me to increase the chances of success and to act more efficiently, but I don't want to risk the enemy escaping with the relic or if reinforcement of the supernatural persuasion might come along and complicate things."

"I see your point, but I don't think I need to tell you to be careful in there."

"Of course," Lelouch said before leaving the group to begin his entry into the facility. He didn't mind going in himself, but a thought came to mind as he did.

'_If a king doesn't lead then how can his subordinates follow?' _

Thanks to Yukiya's help Lelouch found a hidden maintenance hatch which normally could only be opened on the outside, but with the hacker's help it opened for him allowing Lelouch an alternative entrance into the facility. He could have entered it through the emergency escape tunnel, but it was determined that the tunnel was connected to an independent system that was isolated from the rest of the base, so they couldn't use it. Quietly moving through the maintenance tunnel Lelouch appeared in his full armor within the base as he was alert for any potential dangers that was waiting for him.

Other than a number of guards he knew were patrolling the halls, but the guards as far as he could tell were human.

Something about it felt odd, but Lelouch continued onward towards his goal. Yet because of the fact he found it concerning that they left mere humans to guard such a powerful relic being sought after by more hostile parties that the base would have more formidable defenses in place. Granted the place had been built to keep devils out, but Fallen Angels would not be so easily deterred. They would just destroy every religious icon they would come across, but Lelouch didn't think they would make an effective distraction if that is what they thought.

'_Either they had idiots plan out their defenses or they must have something else or someone protecting this place.' _Lelouch thought as he listened to Yukiya's directions as he kept him up to date on the movements of the guards allowing Lelouch to easily avoid them. Thanks to his new pawn's hacking abilities the alarms and motion sensors had been disabled while the cameras were being looped to repeat recorded footage over and over again rendering Lelouch invisible to them.

All he had to do was evade the guards; although he could cut them down easily enough he wanted to secure the relic first and avoid any unnecessary combat.

Reaching the secured vault where the incomplete weapon of the Casket of Ancient Winters was located Lelouch reached the door with Yukiya telling him the code to open it.

The heavy armored doors opened with a sharp hiss before Lelouch walked inside to find what appeared to be some kind of canon-like weapon designed to be carried by a Knightmare Frame in the room. The room was large and spacious with computer monitors, workstations with state-of-the art tools and automated assembly stations. Lelouch approached the weapon before inspecting it to find the relic, which after spending a couple of minutes looking around he found a compartment on top of the weapon which held the relic inside.

The relic was the size of a bowling ball, but it was the shape of a dark blue cube that felt ice cold to the touch as Lelouch began disconnecting it from the weapon they had attached it to.

Carefully removing the relic Lelouch used magic to store the Casket of Ancient Winters until he could deliver it to Odin. Lelouch smiled to himself as he had completed his objective, so all he had to do now was escape the facility with his prize.

'_All of the operation's primary objectives have been achieved…all I have to do is escape.' _Lelouch thought as he turned to leave, but after leaving the vault he dodged a light bullet fired at him. The second bullet Lelouch drew his sword deflecting the bullet before looking at his attacker. He was dressed in the attire of a priest complete with the black suit, but he wore a black coat over it with boots holding a light gun in one hand while on his belt Lelouch saw what appeared to be a light sword.

'_An exorcist…that is strange. Yukiya and I didn't see one when we used the cameras to check the place over.' _Lelouch thought as he assessed the situation calmly while also noting he heard nothing from Yukiya indicating that he was a new arrival. _'Could there be another room or entrance into this facility that was hidden from the data and notes within the security system we didn't know about?'_

Regardless Lelouch was faced with an enemy he would need to take down before he could escape, but in a way Lelouch had expected that getting in wouldn't be the problem. It was getting out with his target that would be the real issue.

"I don't know who you are, but you picked the wrong secret base to break into." The exorcist said before pulling a second light pistol from his jacket. He unleashed a hail of light bullets with Lelouch deflecting them all with his sword while rushing at the exorcist intending to cut him down once he was close enough.

The exorcist realizing his enemy was closing in fast quickly abandoned his guns for his sword, but he drew barely in the nick of time to parry a swing from Lelouch's blade. However Lelouch slid his demonic blade along the light blade quickly allowing him to cut off part of the exorcist's head ending his life. Unsurprisingly however before Lelouch get further down the hall he was met upon by four more exorcists, which was followed by a call from Yukiya.

"Lelouch these guys are coming out from a hidden room near the security room of the base."

"So a hidden section of the base hidden within a secret research facility…how cute." Lelouch mused with a grin.

Lelouch stood like a statue as the four exorcists charged him with light swords drawn while Lelouch kept his blade angled towards the ground. At the very instant two of his four new enemies launched their attacks were launched upon the black armored devil sprang into action unleashing a furry of sparks and an impressive display of swordsmanship. Unlike his first foe these two had more skill, but Lelouch was no amateur with a blade. Ever since he was found by Sirzechs and the Devils he had been well trained since a young age not only to become a powerful warrior, but also one day a part of the devil nobility and maybe something more.

That being said Lelouch skillfully used the hallway they were fighting in to his advantage. Four against one would have been problematic for him, but with the hallway as it was the other two exorcists couldn't risk joining the fray right away because they were at risk of getting cut down either by their enemy's weapon or their allies. This furthered worked against Lelouch's enemies, because despite wielding a large sword as a weapon while employing a two-handed sword style he was surprisingly agile and fast.

'_Remember use your environment to your advantage.' _Spoke the words of his mentor in the art of swordsmanship Souji Okita as he remembered his first lessons with the former 1st Unit Captain of the Shinsengumi.

Lelouch kept his foes on the defensive as the raw strength he put behind each of his hammering blows forced the two exorcists back inch by inch. Time and time again the two exorcists tried to change tactics and alter their style, but Lelouch had an answer for every lunge, parry and riposte. His style borrowed not only from Kenjutsu and the Tennen Rishin-Ryu his master Souji had taught him, but Lelouch had also learned and familiarized himself with different fighting styles with a blade. Combined with his fiercely dangerous intellect and how quickly he could devise plans and project a number of different outcomes for each of them granting him a potent level of foresight that allowed Lelouch to anticipate his foe's strategies and maneuvers. His blade was always one step ahead of theirs despite his blade being much larger than the blades the exorcists used.

Inevitability after wearing themselves down against him Lelouch saw an opening and gazed the first exorcist on the left shoulder and then left a deep cut on the right thigh while the other he slashed across the abdomen before slicing off the exorcist's head. The third exorcist rushed in to help his fellow comrades, but Lelouch merely sidestepped his foe before cleaving the exorcist in two right before Lelouch finished off the first one he had faced leaving only one exorcist to face him.

This one was likely more inexperience than the other four he had faced so far as Lelouch saw a look of complete fear on his face. He dropped his sword and began fleeing, but Lelouch stopped him dead in his tracks as he raised his free hand with a purple magical circle forming in front of him. A number of magically materialized chains appeared around the fleeing exorcist causing him to fall face first onto the ground. At that moment more soldiers arrived on the scene, but Lelouch produced a magical barrier to deflect the bullets.

Yet at that moment Rossweisse intervened and attacked the soldiers from behind using her spear catching them off guard. More soldiers came and Lelouch fought them, but it quickly turned into a one-sided slaughter as neither of them had a chance in defeating the bodyguard of Odin let alone a devil wielding one of the strongest blades in existence. After the last one had been slain leaving a large number of dead bodies Lelouch approached the only survivor of the massacre who had been tightly bound.

"You're keeping this one alive to interrogate right?" Rossweisse asked.

"Yes because I am sure you and Odin would like to know who was really behind all of this, but of course I am curious as well." Lelouch answered.

"Before we leave we should investigate this hidden part of the base Yukiya said he found after he watched those exorcists leave to engage you."

"I agree since the testimony of one exorcist might not hold enough weight."

* * *

Around the same time at a beach house that was somewhere along the coast of Italy a man in his late twenties with long brown hair and blue eyes wearing a white shirt and black pants was bringing two glasses of wines, one for himself and one for the girl he had for company tonight. Johann Malcal had much to celebrate because soon he would be rich and possess greater influence than his family could had ever hoped to receive once the success of the new weapon that was being made with the help of his allies in the EU military with the a select few of the Church's higher ups providing support. He might have lost his whole family in the exchange, but their deaths meant nothing to him as it meant he was now in control of the Malcal Estate.

"I hope you are ready for wonderful evening." Johann said entering his bedroom, but his face went pale when he saw that his lady friend was not waiting for him.

"Oh I am ready for a wonderful evening alright."

The voice came from a large figure wearing black robes and a suit underneath, but in the darkness his eyes flashed red while he possessed pale skin with long black hair. Looking around the room Johann found his mistress who lay dead on the floor by the dead with her throat slashed out.

"Lord Kokabiel," Johann said slowly backing away. As much as he tried to hide it the man was terrified of the fact that the Fallen Angel he had secretly worked with to increase his own standing and then backstabbed had managed to track him down. "Uh what a pleasant surprise...well...uh..."

"Oh I imagine you must be surprised to see me." Kokabiel said as he rose from the chair he had been sitting in as he slowly approached the terrified Johann. "That was a very stupid move you did cheating me out of the Casket of Ancient Winters. We had a good deal, so why did you back out?"

"Uh well you see I thought."

"You thought you could get a better deal with the church and you thought they could protect you from me right?" Kokabiel interrupted before waging his right index finger in front of Johann's face. "Where is that protection now?"

Johann didn't respond, but he knew he was a dead man.

"I am not going to kill you," The Fallen Angel said darkly causing Johann to experience a brief moment of relief. "I am going to take my time making you regret backstabbing me before I kill you very horrifically! You see I am quite upset over these recent events so I need to torture someone to help me feel better."

"No…please no!" Johann said before he tried to run, but a quick light spear to the leg cut his attempt to escape short leaving the man at the mercy of a very angry Fallen Angel.

* * *

Back at the facility in France, Lelouch and Rossweisse left the facility after obtaining all of the data that had been within the hidden part of the facility where the exorcists had taken residence within who were unknown to most of the research facility's staff while those who ran the facility knew about them keeping no record of their existence nor the existence of the hidden section of the facility out of their computers. After finding a computer terminal down there Lelouch opened up a communication line with Yukiya's computer so the hacker could download every juicy bit of information he could get.

As they left Yukiya briefed Lelouch on the contents of the files he found.

"According to these files I guess a faction within the E.U. military being led by those wanting to turn the war to their favor using whatever methods they can get their hands on while the exorcists and relics you saw to consecrate that base to keep devils and other beings out was supplied by a more radical faction of the Church who wants renewed war against the Devils and Fallen Angels who were hoping to use the weapon they were trying to develop for their own war."

"I imagine that Johann must have acted as some kind of go-between with these two factions while the Fallen Angels were being set up to take the fall right?" Lelouch asked.

"That seems to be the case, but of course I think they would have preferred if the Devils had taken the fall through."

"I suppose." Lelouch replied before he began grinning under his mask. Internally he began laughing as they had more than enough evidence for an inter-religion scandal on a scale no one could believe. He thought about keeping the information for himself, but decided it would be better off in the hands of Sirzechs and Serafall who were more in a position to make effective use of it than he was right now.

For now the mission was a resounding success, but other than returning the relic to Odin there was a few loose ends to tie up. First it would need to be decided what to do with Leila Malcal since she was a witness to all of this. Even if her memory was erased and she was allowed to return to her normal life she was still in danger of being targeted by those who wanted vengeance against the Malcal Family as a result of events involving the Casket of Ancient Winters.

'_She would likely need to be put into protective custody, but.' _Lelouch began thinking before he stopped to draw out another chess piece to twirl the black piece within the fingers of his right hand as he was musing over the possibility of recruiting her into his peerage. But he would need to determine what kind of skills she had first before recruiting her so that he could determine which piece would be best used on her.

Of course there was still the matter of convincing her to join.

* * *

A/N: well it seems Leila might be the next member of Lelouch's peerage, but next chapter through Lelouch will also earn another peerage member as well through unexpected events. So to say his time in Paris was very fruitful for him would be an understatement, but also these events would add to his reputation as both Zero and the Black Knight as he starts making himself more known in the supernatural world. Next chapter Lelouch will be told details that were kept from him since he was young at the time with a few surprises which will better explain his possession of Arondight, the revelations of what the Holy Sword had become, and his resistance to holy ground and certain weapons but he can still be harmed by powerful ones like legendary holy swords. How Lelouch obtained this ability will be revealed in the next chapter with Serafall and Sirzechs explain it to him in the next chapter following the completion of his mission and being officially named a high-class devil.

Also I know Lelouch would plan out some of his operations more carefully, but keep in mind he was working against the clock all things considered. If he waited too long then the enemy would try to escape and Lelouch might lose the trail. Even so Lelouch proved he was more than capable of getting the job done despite some unexpected things that happened.

Now some of you might have noticed a new poll I put up on my profile page for this story and this is to decide the second main pairing for Lelouch, although technically his first to avoid any political complications and the like hence the term I am using. Basically management of the harem would be shared between Rossweisse and the winner, which could help since depending on who it is they would have other duties to attend to. I also say that because from what I have learned about from written details from the light novels it seems to be a common thing for the heads of families to have harems which I guess is to help with population growth I suppose among other things I am sure. Even Rias's father has been confirmed to have a harem with his wife managing it so you guys can see my point. Sirzechs doesn't have one because the Devil Kings are not allowed to have harems which I think is more of a safety measure to keep the devil kings from building their own families based on the title name they get…in case you were wondering.

Sona would be the easiest to pair with Lelouch, but I know people are hoping for Rias and Lelouch. Heck I think I began a whole new shipping war because of this lol. However another possibility was suggested to me about considering Serafall Leviathan instead who potentially could be an interesting choice. However I am concerned about their personalities meshing well with Lelouch through, although she might be easier than Rias as in discussions with EpicEbi on the matter brought up some concerns that could complicate it.

A common concern about Rias and pairing her with Lelouch is both are rather pushy characters if that makes sense, and there might be some clashes on how Rias handles her peerage so a lot of work would needed to make it work.

Other characters like Akeno do worry me a little because I think her sadism and masochism might be a little much for him to handle lol, but I would be more willing to pair him with Akeno over Raynare because of the fact Lelouch is not likely to trust her due to her treacherous nature. And the guy already has trust issues to begin with so that is a very huge complication there. I am considering the results of the previous poll and how well the characters would mesh with Lelouch to make my final decision. I am mentioning this to give you guys a chance to convince me otherwise before my final decision.

The reason I mention all of this because whoever wins the poll and if I am convinced said person would be the best choice will determine the rest of the harem line up which I still plan to be a mix between CG and DxD characters. But remember I need to keep other characters like Issei in mind, because I do plan on pairing him with Asia at least and a few others to keep with his dream of being a harem king. He's a main character in DxD so I can't overlook him.

I have a harem line up in mind if Sona wins, but the others I am debating on should they win and if I change my mind.

But if you guys really want to see Rias or Serafall get picked then here is your chance to not only vote, but I'll need to be convinced as well as the poll only plays one part of the process. You are welcomed to do the same for anyone else just keep in mind this is Lelouch we're talking about here who is prideful and has difficulty trusting others.

Those I am considering next for the harem are Kallen and Xenovia…those two are confirmed to be future members, as well as members of Lelouch's peerage at some point, regardless of the poll.

Let it be said I am not being considerate for the fans of this story, so here is your chance now so review, tell me what you think and I'll get the next chapter out soon once I update one of my other stories next. The poll I'll keep going for a week maybe two depending on how fast I can produce a chapter for this story.

Thank in advance for reviewing and thank you for reading the chapter, and I am sorry about the long author note, see you next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4 Unemployment and Recruitment

A/N: First off thank you all for the reviews and favorites with this story quickly becoming my most popular by far. And this one I admit is among the stories I am enjoying working with especially since there is MUCH less frustration involved with doing a harem for this one.

In the matter of the pairing between Sona, Rias and Serafall you guys do make some good points. I admit I am leaning more towards Serafall because there are very few stories involving her (at least that I am aware of) and the fact given that Serafall is more cheerful and optimistic than Lelouch who is sometimes more cynical it would make for a good pairing where opposite temperaments attract one another.

I do also agree that considering her current position that there is more to Serafall than meets the eye.

Rias well I do acknowledge there are a LOT of stories with her as the main pairing, so I completely understand people would want to see something different. However discussions with EpicEbi on Rias and Lelouch as a couple would have some complications since their personalities might clash with one another. Long term compatibility might be an issue since both would want to be in charge.

Sona…yeah I agree she would be the EASIEST to pair with Lelouch given how they would match up almost perfectly. It would be potentially boring; of course I could spice it up with Sona trying to compete against her sister Serafall for Lelouch. Although it's true Lelouch could end up with both Serafall and Sona, but I am not sure if Sona would be willing to share with her sister. Serafall would, but it's questionable if Sona would accept through. At the same time through I worry it would be rather cheap of me to go the "he gets both of them" route.

Either way I might roll with it and see what happens.

Serafall has won the poll with forty one votes out of a 103 votes while Sona was second with 34 and Rias got only 28 votes.

I have a new poll up on my profile now, which more of a curiosity poll for a potential future candidate I am considering of using.

I'll see about pairing Lelouch with Serafall, but I am going to keep Sona and Rias handy just in case things don't work out.

Anyway let's move on with the chapter…

* * *

Chapter 4

Unemployment and Recruitment

The following day back in Paris the former Britannian Prince, following the competition of his mission, was inside his hotel room talking to Leila in private about what her future might hold for the young woman now since letting her go was too dangerous because of what had happened recently. More so for Leila than for Lelouch as she was exposed to a world she never knew that existed, but more so there was a real danger the Fallen Angels, specifically Kokabiel, would likely seek her life to get retribution from Johann's betrayal. Leila had some choices open to her and Lelouch was going to explain them all, although she was more than welcome to task the risk and try to go back to her old life.

But considering she is a member of the EU military he thought loosing such a potential candidate for his peerage might be a waste.

'_I don't want to force her to become a member of my peerage either.' _Lelouch thought as he considered a wide range of possibilities in his head.

"So what happens to me now?" Leila asked feeling what Lelouch couldn't tell was depression or she was feeling lost on what to do from this moment on.

"Considering the fact you have been exposed to our world of the supernatural, something we work to keep secret from humanity at large, you have some options open to you. However we have to consider the fact you will likely be targeted by the Fallen Angels as both a means to seek retribution for Johann's actions and for the possible fact you were indirectly involved with recent events."

"Basically I would be killed off as a witness to something I shouldn't have seen?" Leila asked, which prompted Lelouch to nod in response.

"More or less and given how the church is going to be suffering with a scandal once word gets out about what happened, so there is a possibly of the radical elements might seek retribution on you as well."

"Damn it!" Leila snapped in frustration slamming her fist on the table the two were sitting in front of. "I swear if I see Johann again I'll kill him on the spot."

"Provided no one else beats you to it, but with all of that said you have three options." Lelouch said, but when Leila remained silent he took it as her consent to continue speaking. "First we can hide you in protective custody, but at this point I can't tell you how it would have to be for the rest of your life. Second you could become a devil through the use of Evil Pieces and join one of the major clans of the underworld where you would be protected, but I know that would be asking a lot so I won't press it further."

"I understand…"

"Of course you could ignore the last two opinions and try to resume life as it was before, but considering all that has happened I am doubtful that is possible." Lelouch said before studying Leila's face looking for reactions and changes in expression to better study her and gauge her character.

"I don't think I would like to go back to that life. It wasn't something I chose."

"What do you mean?"

"I was adopted into the Malcal Family by the family's head after my parents were killed when I was a child. My real name is Leila von Breisgau, but it was changed following my adaptation. Apparently I was adopted so I could be married to my new brother once I came of age for the sake of something stupid like seeing the blood of Britannian nobles mingled with that of European Nobles." Leila said as Lelouch observed her tightening her hands into fists as she was making to effort to hide her disgust. Lelouch did not interrupt her, but instead he listened with growing interest in her story.

After a moment of recalling the bitter memories and the knowledge of what the family head had intended for her, Leila's face softened for a moment.

"However Stephan and Daniel were kind and I appreciated their help in living through that. With that said they didn't deserve to die because of Johann's greed. But what I want is the power to live on my own and nothing more than that."

"I see…maybe you and I have something in common." Lelouch mused with a thoughtful expression. "Still if you intend to become a devil I ask that you consider your choice carefully. I didn't have much of choice due to unexpected circumstances at the time, but I don't want you feeling that I or anyone else is trying to force you."

"I understand and I appreciate it." Leila said with a relieved expression, but Lelouch didn't need to express further the choices she would need to consider. "By the way where are Ryo and the others?"

"They are wrapping up anything they need to take care of before we head to Japan. I gave them the whole day and any other time they would need to take care of it." Lelouch answered.

Before the conversation could go any further a magical circle activated behind Lelouch. The young man instinctively assumed a fighting stance, but he lowered his guard when he saw who it was who had arrived.

"Well hello Lelouch!" Serafall exclaimed cheerfully.

"Serafall-sama, what are you doing here?"

Unlike the times she had usually seen her Serafall Leviathan was dressed in civilian attire a green button long-sleeve blouse with a pink cravat, a matching beret-style hat and a dark green long bell-shaped skirt bottom complete with brown boots.

"I wanted to personally congratulate you on a job well done and congrats on finding some peerage members too." Serafall said with a smile before hugging Lelouch causing the young man to blush. "So to celebrate let's go explore and have fun in Paris today shall we!"

"Wait what?" Lelouch said, but he didn't have much time to protest as Serafall began pulling on his arm as she was almost dragging him out the door. "Wait I got a guest…I can't leave her here."

"Oh don't worry I got devils watching this place and her before I arrived, so relax and let's have FUN!" The devil declared, but Lelouch knew there was no stopping her much to his annoyance, but he reasoned maybe it would be best if Leila had some time alone to think about it. Besides that matter he thought about going out into the city before leaving to buy a present for Nunnally.

Since he was being taken out for a day through the city against his will by the most powerful female devil of the underworld he might as well take care of that as well.

* * *

Speaking of Nunnally it was late afternoon in Japan when she decided to pay a visit to some friends she and her brother have known ever since they were taken in by the Four Devil Kings and the Underworld in general. She traveled to a town near Toyko, which officially was a specially administrated zone, but unofficially it was under the control of the Gremory Family with the special administration and rights the town has being due to the Gremory Family's influence so their next heir wouldn't be troubled too much by the Britannian authorities and any bigoted Britannians who might cause problems for the school the heiress in question was attending.

Kuoh Academy was formerly an all-girls school until a few years ago, but now it was open to boys and girls with a majority of Japanese students and few Britannian students. Yet unlike other schools Japanese and Britannian students and staff were surprisingly peaceful with one another and seemingly worked together well. Even through new and more modern buildings have been built to better accommodate the growing number of students they received since becoming an academy that allowed students of both genders to attend the old school building had been repurposed to serve as the club house for the Occult Research Club.

It was here the heiress of the Gremory Family took up residence.

Nunnally Lamperouge was dressed in a pink long skirt with a white blouse and a red tie wearing a light red jacket to go with the skirt and brown sandals.

As she approached the old building she happened upon one of the students who wasn't a member of the club she was going to visit, but she was someone Nunnally knew through Serafall who insisted on using chan when addressing her.

"Good afternoon Sona-chan." Nunnally said greeting a girl who was the same age as Lelouch with short black hair and violet eyes wearing thin pink rimmed glasses.

Like most female students at Kuoh Academy she wore the traditional female student uniform that consisted of a white long-sleeved, button-down shirt with vertical linings, a black ribbon on the collar, matching button-down corset, and a magenta skirt with white accents. Sona was known at the school as Souna Shitori a third-year student, but in reality she was Sona Sitri the heiress to the Sitri Family and the younger sister of Serafall Leviathan.

"Nunnally-chan," Sona said with an expression of surprise upon her face. "I wasn't expecting to see you today, so did you come to visit Rias and me?"

"Yes, because my brother is away and so is your sister so I thought today was a good time to visit if it's not inconveniencing you and Rias-chan." Nunnally said with a bright smile, which was hard for most people to say no to her.

"Oh no not at all, but I am sure Rias will appreciate the visit."

"So she is inside then? I thought about teleporting in, but I didn't want to come unannounced through and be rude by inviting myself."

"I understand, but what exactly is your brother up to?" Sona asked as the two girls began entering the old school building together.

"Well he is doing something for your older sister Serafall-sama, but he should be coming back tomorrow I think or tonight. The different time zones are kinda confusing."

"Different time zones," Sona inquired with a puzzled expression before asking. "Just where is he?"

"In Paris…"

"Doing what for my sister exactly?"

"Uh," Nunnally began realizing she probably said too much. "That's classified."

"Really? My sister isn't having your brother do anything…improper?" Sona asked feeling worried more for Lelouch than her sister, especially since she knew the kind of temperament her older sister had. She highly doubted anything of an intimate nature was going on, but her concern was more towards the fact she had recruited Lelouch to do some kind of task for her that would be embarrassing for the young man.

"No its nothing like that, but it's a very important task that even Sirzechs-sama entrusted to Lelouch as well." Nunnally said before stopping and internally cursing herself when she realized she was revealing too much.

She was more comfortable around Sona than she was with Milly and the others back at Ashford so it wasn't too hard to imagine that supernatural things she wanted to discuss that she couldn't because Milly and the others were human would come out more easily with devils like Sona especially since they have known each other for seven years.

"So what exactly did my brother entrust your brother with?" A voice behind them asked.

Sona and Nunnally turned around to see another girl who was the same age as Sona, but unlike the black-haired devil she had long crimson red hair that stretched down pass her thighs with blue eyes and an impressive and quite attractive buxom figure. Like Sona she too wore the Kuoh Academy uniform, but unlike Sona she wore the shoulder-cape on hers.

"Rias-sama!" Nunnally said embarrassed as Rias Gremory, the younger sister of Sirzechs, must have spotted them when she and Sona entered the old academy building together.

"How are you today Nunnally, it sounds like your brother is into something interesting."

"Uh he is, but I am sorry Serafall-sama and Grayfia-sama told me not to tell anyone." Nunnally said with an apologetic expression.

"If my brother is involved then it's likely something very important then, but…I would like to know what exactly your brother has been doing with my older brother and Sona's older sister. Just what kind of jobs have they been giving Lelouch?"

"So would I." Sona said as she recalled a year ago when she did try to find out more about what Lelouch was doing by asking Serafall.

Unfortunately the price Serafall wanted from her younger sister to have her questions answered was too high of a price for her. She refused to sacrifice her dignity by wearing a Sayaka Miki Madoka Magica cosplay costume and go with her to a magical girl convention wearing it.

'_If I agreed to that just once it would not have been the end of it.' _Sona thought, which since then has made her even more reluctant to ask anything of her older sister.

"But I suppose its ok for me to mention that my brother has started his own peerage." Nunnally said deciding to change the subject.

"He has what!?" Sona and Rias exclaimed.

"So does this mean he has become a high-class devil then?" Sona asked as the trio reached the main club meeting room where three of the Occult Research Club members were already gathered, but of course the club was really a front for Rias and her peerage to have a base of operations just as the entire student council consisted of members of Sona's peerage with her as student council president.

Sona and Rias were stunned as they knew it was barely two years ago when Lelouch began taking jobs as a devil, but yet unlike them it seemed his jobs were coming from another source. Now the fact he seemed to be working with both of their older siblings who were two of the four Devil Kings begged the question of the exact nature of these jobs. Whatever they were they likely played a major part in Lelouch's rapid ascension to the rank of High-Class Devil.

"Nunnally-chan this is unexpected."

The new voice belonged to a woman with a figure on pair or more attractive than Rias's, but unlike the crimson haired devil this girl had long black hair tied into a top-knot ponytail wearing the same uniform as Rias. She also had violet eyes and was the same age as Rias and Sona judging by her appearance.

"Akeno-sama…it's nice to see you again." Nunnally greeted politely.

Akeno Himejima giggled softly at the formal greeting. "Please you don't have to call me Akeno-sama, Akeno-chan works fine too."

Nunnally soon spotted the only male person in the room who given his short blonde hair and blue eyes was the most popular boy in school. Even Nunnally found that she was rather taken him as well as a large number of young girls around Kuoh Academy who were too, but of course aside from his good looks his charming and polite personality had played a big part in winning over the fans he had around school much to chagrin of some of the male students. He wore the male version of the academy uniform which consisted of black dress pants, a black coat with darker trim and a white long-sleeve shirt that was the same as seen on the female uniform complete with the black ribbon tie.

"Sorry about that Akeno-chan, but it's nice to see you too Yuuto-kun and Koneko-chan." Nunnally said greeting Yuuto Kiba before turning her attention to the last member of their club who was present.

She was the youngest member present with yellow eyes, white hair with a black cat-shaped hair pin wearing the same uniform as Akeno, Rias and Sona, but like Sona she didn't wear the shoulder cape. Koneko Toujou was busy munching on a bag of chips, but since she had food in her mouth and was munching on it she simply waved at Nunnally.

"So what brings you here Nunnally-chan?" Yuuto inquired.

"She wanted to visited since her brother was out of the country, but I just found out Lelouch has begun his own peerage." Rias answered with the news of Lelouch beginning his own peerage coming as quite a surprise.

"Really, so how did Lelouch-kun manage that…it seems rather soon doesn't it?" Akeno asked as she was just as genuinely surprised as Yuuto was.

"Yes I agree, but Nunnally refuses to talk on the matter. My brother is involved with it as is Serafall-sama. According to her whatever he has been doing with them is classified." Rias said with an amused smile.

"Although I am more curious to find out what he has been doing." Sona commented while she adjusted her glasses.

* * *

Half way across the world Lelouch was sitting at a table with a smiling and content Serafall who was enjoying a cold drink a street side café. The former prince was tired out having been led around by the over-eager and excitable devil who had more or less then dragged around Paris on a sightseeing tour of the city visiting more of its pleasant tourist attractions. During the tour Lelouch did find a few things he was sure Nunnally would like.

Or at least he hoped so and just didn't buy useless junk, but on the one hand Lelouch was just thankful that he and Serafall didn't happen upon a store that sold anime.

'_She would have cleared out the place and had me haul most it around.' _Lelouch thought breathing a sigh of relief.

"You should be smiling more Lelouch!" Serafall said cheerfully as she was trying to spread her infectious smile and good humor to Lelouch who wasn't exactly the most cheerful or easygoing person around all things considered. Nunnally fit that expectation far better than he did, although he was trying to make an effort out of consideration for Serafall. "You get a little agitated when things don't go as you have planned just like Nunnally-chan says. You shouldn't stress over a change of plan here and there especially when people surprise you."

"If I didn't plan out my day to activities I would end up wasting time and energy when it could have been used more productively." Lelouch replied.

"You are turning more and more into my younger sister and it's depressing." Serafall pouted.

"Well I am sorry it's just how I am. My upbringing wasn't exactly normal even before becoming a devil." Lelouch said with a more empathetic expression.

"I think something needs to be done about that."

"And what exactly do you intend on doing?" Lelouch asked before he mentally reprimanded himself.

'_You prideful idiot…don't edge her on like that.' _

"I'll think of something, so until then you'll have to wait and see." Serafall said with a cute wink.

Lelouch for reasons he couldn't explained suddenly felt worried, but the rest of the day was uneventful. Following their break at the café Lelouch and Serafall made their way back to the hotel where Lelouch would finalize his preparations to return to Japan with his new peerage in tow, although he would need to figure out something for Leila if she didn't chose to become a devil.

'_It would be too risky to send her on a plane alone to Japan.' _Lelouch thought, but as he and Serafall approached the front doors leading into the hotel they came across someone they didn't expect to see again. After returning the casket of ancient winters to Odin he thought the god had departed France to return to Asgard, but it seemed however that he had left someone behind.

He saw a depressed and weeping Rossweisse walking towards the hotel, but she stopped upon noticing Lelouch.

"Lelouch…I…"

"Rossweisse what happened to you."

"That old perverted…ungrateful…bastard...he...uh...he..." Rossweisse managed in-between sobs as approached Lelouch to hand him a pink slip.

Taking the pink piece of paper he saw it was a message left by Odin.

**YOU'RE FIRED!**

Lelouch was slacked jawed at Odin's sudden and unexpected abandonment of his own bodyguard, but the only conclusion he could come to was likely the fact that Odin had grown tired of Rossweisse scolding him for his perverted habits. Lelouch felt anger at the old god for this act, but the more devious part of his mind realized he had an opportunity to recruit the former bodyguard into his peerage. However Lelouch calmed that part with the reasoning that he would help the young woman in what ways he could and if she wished to join him then it would benefit him greatly.

'_I wonder if I was too quick to recruit Ryo and his friends, but…' _Lelouch thought as he thought he would be more cautious and careful in whom he would recruit into his peerage.

His recruitment of Ryo and his friends was partly on a whim and seeking to capitalize on an opportunity he saw to recruit potential allies.

"Let's get her inside Lelouch." Serafall suggested.

"Right, come on Rossweisse."

Lelouch and Serafall led the crying Rossweisse into the hotel before escorting her to his room where they went to the table to talk while Leila decided to sit on a sofa nearby to observe what was happening. The blonde woman remembered the Valkyrie when she and Lelouch broke into the family estate. She didn't quite know what had happened, but either she was dumped by her boyfriend or something else happened.

"Thank you" Rossweisse said accepting the tea Lelouch made for her after laying the white cup before her on the table. "I didn't know who else I could come to. I don't know anyone here."

Lelouch sat down opposite of her while Serafall sat on a chair next to Lelouch.

"Just take a few minutes to relax Rossweisse." Lelouch said while gesturing with his right hand to take it easy.

"Yes you're right, forgive me." The Valkyrie replied before Serafall handed her a tissue box. Rossweisse accepted the box using one of the tissues to dry her eyes.

It took a few more minutes for Rossweisse to calm down, but once she was calmed she began venting.

"I just couldn't believe it. He just left me behind after firing me. It was already bad enough that my pay was terrible and the ridicule I got from the other Valkyries being called her servant girl." Rossweisse said as she twisted a tissue Serafall had given her early angrily in her hands.

"Servant girl…I thought you were his bodyguard?" Lelouch asked.

"Hardly, but more accurately Odin had me taking care of his needs such as his laundry, cooking and cleaning." Rossweisse as her anger was building up prompting her to tear apart the tissue she had been twisting. "It was bad enough my pay wasn't as good as it should have been, but there were no other jobs for me and I thought it would help me and my family if I took it."

"And you were left behind, so what happens."

"Actually I remember you were looking to form a peerage so I wanted to see if you would like to hire me." Rossweisse said.

"You realize what you are asking me." Lelouch said as he was genuinely surprised by the offer as he had been wishing to recruit her since becoming aware of her unemployment status.

He contemplated the possibilities and from working with her recently he would be comfortable with including her into his peerage, but he would need to work on building a trustful relationship between not only Rossweisse but Ryo and the others.

"I know it would mean that I would become a devil, but with everything I endured along with the humiliation I…I can't go back to Asgard like this." Rossweisse said as her face held an expression of sadness and anger.

"You don't want to go back to endure not only having been let go by Odin, but also abandoned by him." Lelouch noted which prompted the young woman to nod.

The former prince studied Rossweisse's movements and experiences, but he was convinced this woman would make an invaluable addition to his peerage.

"Alright I accept your offer Rossweisse," Lelouch said before leaving the table to retrieve the box containing his Evil Pieces.

After much internal debate Lelouch chose the piece he believed Rossweisse was best suited for considering her combat abilities and skill with magic. Her experience having served as Odin's bodyguard, the fact she was used for domestic tasks Lelouch ignored, finalized his decision as Lelouch picked the Queen piece.

'_Her skills, magical ability and experience more than qualify her for this piece.' _Lelouch thought as he felt that Rossweisse more than qualified to be his queen as she had the skills and experience to best take advantage of its benefits.

"Wow this is unexpected you have found yourself a queen." Serafall said clearly pleased with Lelouch's success in not only completing the mission she sent him to Paris to do, but also finding candidates he successfully recruited into his peerage.

'_She's right this has been a surprisingly productive couple of days, despite some complications and minor issues.' _Lelouch thought with a smile.

Leila watched as Rossweisse underwent the ritual to become a devil as the Queen Chess piece fused with her completing her transition into a devil.

"Lelouch…" The blonde woman began.

"Yes Leila?"

"I would like to ask about joining your peerage as well." Leila said finally making her choice.

She weighted her opinions carefully and decided she would be better off serving with Lelouch as a devil and his servant as part of his peerage.

Since Leila had no supernatural or noteworthy abilities to speak of Lelouch decided on making her another pawn, which unlike Ryo the blonde girl had no objections. She lacked the ability to make use of being a bishop or a knight, although Lelouch considered the rook position for her he decided against leaving that position open for now.

'_This has been a very productive few days indeed.' _ Lelouch thought as he brought Leila into the fold making her a devil and his newest pawn.

* * *

After Ryo and his friends returned Lelouch returned to Area 11 while Serafall took Lelouch's new servants to the underworld to take care of necessary paperwork for their new identities and where they would be living before joining Lelouch at Ashford Academy. Lelouch was already making plans on training his new servants wishing to have them properly combat ready to deal with more supernatural threats as soon as possible. A travel weary Lelouch entered his room intending to just go to sleep and rest, although he had planned on talking to his sister but he found that Nunnally was sound asleep in her room. Lelouch decided to surprise her tomorrow morning instead, but it worked out better for him since he was weary from travel and events that had happened.

Of course Lelouch needed to readjust to time zone he had returned to since it was well past midnight upon his return to Japan.

But upon entering his room there was someone waiting for him.

"Sirzechs-sama…what are you doing here?" Lelouch said noticing the Devil King was seated at his desk having been clearly waiting for him.

Unlike some of the times he had seen Sirzechs the red-haired man was dressed in more formal attire consisting of a dark green suit with a dark brown tie and vest. Sirzechs studied Lelouch with a concerned and serious expression, but Lelouch knew what this visit was about although he wasn't expecting it so quickly.

"I apologize for coming to see you this late Lelouch, but this seemed to be the best time for the discussion I promised you once you completed your mission."

"I see, so it must be something for you to speak to me at this late of an hour."

"This is information that must not leave this room. I have Grayfia and my servants maintaining a barrier right now to ensure it's only you and me."

Lelouch was surprised by how far Sirzechs was going, but Lelouch did not contest it. It did only seek to increase his curiosity however and he wanted to know the rest of the details Sirzechs could not tell him as a child.

Gesturing for him to sit Lelouch sat on his bed before waiting for Sirzechs to begin.

"When we recovered you we did a medical examination on you considering that you were rampaging using the Sacred Gear you had sealed within you. It was unusual at first, but further examination did offer an explanation as to why your powers and Sacred Gear manifested so violently." Sirzechs began before taking a moment before he said the words that would shock Lelouch vi Britannia to his core. "It's because you were a devil to begin with."

"What?" Lelouch said as he was shocked by this revelation.

"We don't quite fully understand it either, but your devil blood had been put under a large number of magical seals that suppressed it to the point that you were for all accounts human. In fact we believe the frail body you had as a child was an indirect side-effect of the seals upon your devil blood sapping your strength. Then when you were in danger the spirit of the demonic dragon within your Sacred Gear broke the seals when you tapped the power of Arondight."

"I see, but how exactly am I a devil from birth?"

"The only conclusion of our investigation is that BOTH of your parents were devils."

"Meaning Charles zi Britannia is a devil himself?" Lelouch said quickly realizing the source of his devil blood, but also he was fully grasping the reason why Sirzechs and the other Devil Kings had gone to such lengths to keep his existence hidden from most of the underworld and the other two factions.

"We have reason to suspect that most of the royal family members are pure blooded devils, but their devil blood, like you, has been greatly suppressed using specialized magical seals so no one would ever notice. Even when touching holy water or going into a church the seals would suppress the blood to such a point that they would be human." Sirzechs explained as this was a lot for Lelouch to grasp. As he thought about it and put other pieces together it all slowly fell into place answering some questions, but it created many more questions he wanted answered.

Lelouch was even questioning the possible motivations that led his mother's death and the cover up that happened as no one was ever brought to justice since the culprits were never found.

'_Was there much more to my mother's own assassination than I had thought?' _

"What does this mean for the underworld?" Lelouch asked.

"We are trying to investigate further, but between trying to keep the Fallen Angels and the Church in check we have been very careful in trying to avoid stirring a horrent nest."

"I see, so you wish to avoid a possible conflict with Britannia which could lead you into conflict with the Fallen Angels and or the Church forcing you to possible fight enemies on multiple fronts."

"Correct, but the fact we don't know which devil family Charles and the rest of the royal family including the consorts he is involved with is another concern."

"Do you think they are involved with the Old Satan Faction?" Lelouch asked as he considered that group having possible connections with Britannia. From what he knew about them they were led by the descendants of the original Four Devil Kings who wanted to continue the war against Heaven and the Fallen Angels regardless of their heavy losses they had taken at that point which led to the civil war that saw Sirzechs and the other current four Devil Kings replacing them.

"We suspect a possible connection, but we haven't turned up any solid evidence yet. We are not ignoring the possibility however, but if we can figure out which Devil Family you are related to could be the key in giving us a clue."

"I understand, but this is a lot to take in through."

"I know and what we told you back then was true. Even through you were a devil already your body was unstable from both the awakening of her Sacred Gear and the seals that kept your devil blood suppressed to the point you were reduced to a human having been forcibly undone."

"So turning me into Grayfia-sama's pawn was a way to stabilize it."

'_But our conversation back then was also for you to determine if I was even aware of my own status as a pure-blooded devil who has the ancestry of an infamous angel of death.' _Lelouch thought deducing the other reasons why Sirzechs led him to believe he was still human, but realizing now that he had been a devil since birth with his blood and whatever power he might have gained sealed away so tightly it reduced him to a frail human being. It did also provide a better explanation as to why he was able to survive and endure the use of his Sacred Gear despite going on a rampage.

"Yes the pawn pieces she used were special ones created by Ajuka which was designed to stabilize the awakening of your devil blood and help you better adapt to it, but he also made it into a mutation piece which helped in your power's growth over the years since then." Sirzechs explained. "It is still very fortunate we had found you and managed to stop you."

"That is true, but my immunity to being in churches, holy water and reading the bible? How did that happen then?"

"We're still not completely sure, but we suspect it is due to the blood of the angel of death within your veins. He was the last known person to wield Arondight after God converted it into the first Sacred Gear with the soul of the Demonic Dragon Emperor to create a weapon not only capable of slaying the original Four Satans, but to kill the Heavenly Dragon Emperors."

"The Angel of Death was Azrael right?"

"Yes and the older brother to Azazel the leader of the Fallen Angels. He has sought Arondight for centuries because it is the prototype from which all Sacred Gears was developed from."

"Guess this means I have one heck of a family tree, at least on my mother's side alone."

"It's quite something, but yet you are a pure-blooded devil just the same yet you have the blood of angels and you are related to the leader of the Fallen Angels at the same time. You are almost a child of the three factions." Sirzechs mused at the family tree Lelouch's mother had, but he wondered if they even knew of their relations.

"Azrael died didn't he at some point, but he sealed the blade within his children passing from the eldest child to the next through the generations."

"Yes, but we don't know who it was. However we do know he was corrupted into a Fallen Angel due to Arondight absorbing the blood of the Devil Kings and the Sacred Gear mutated."

"And what corrupted him affected me which played a part in me going berserk when I first awoke it."

"We believe so, but if you were really human when that I happened I don't think you would have lasted long enough for us to intervene."

"Indeed, but I am still grateful for what you and the others have done for me and Nunnally since that day. Things might not have gone as I would have preferred, but all things considered I know conditions would have been much more unfavorable under different circumstances." Lelouch said because he knew had he just sought out the Ashford Family after the war seven years ago they would have kept him and his sister solely for liability insurance against the politics of Area 11. Or worse yet he could have ended up back in Britannia where the siblings would have been pawns or more than likely casualties of royal ambition.

At least as a devil with the Devil Kings he had more options and he didn't feel as chained down as he might have been.

"I appreciate it, but I do apologize we kept this from you."

"Reflecting on this I admit I doubt I could have handled the news better than I could have now. So I am not offended if that is what you are worried about." Lelouch said, although he was slightly angered by the fact such a secret was kept from him but he did recognize the reasons why Sirzechs kept it from him. Considering how long it took him to adapt and cope with the idea he had a powerful weapon sealed inside of him and the fact he went on a rampage with it combined with the idea he was related to the Angel of Death through his mother was already a lot to take in back then among other things. "However I think this was not the only subject you came to discuss with me."

"Yes, but now that you know that you are a pure-blooded devil from an unknown family this does raise some complications for you I am sure you are beginning to realize." Sirzechs began which Lelouch realized what Sirzechs was getting at.

"You want to talk about my future, specifically marriage." Lelouch said with a sour expression.

"Yes and I know you are not going to enjoy this conversation all things considered."

"I know, but it's not just an issue I marry one girl isn't it?"

"No and since you are a high-class devil now with the noble title of Count, Count Lelouch Lamperouge." Sirzechs said with a sense of pride in his voice given how much Lelouch has grown in seven years.

"So I am a noble of the underworld now?" Lelouch said with an amused smirk.

"You have done a lot for me and the other Devil Kings and for the underworld in general especially given your recent actions that has secured us an alliance with Asgard. So you have done more than enough to earn that title as well as the right to be a king of your own peerage."

Lelouch said nothing, but he did feel proud of himself at that moment. What he accomplished on his own thanks to Grayfia and Sirzechs's servants helping him master and use his new powers was proof to Lelouch that he could survive on his own and achieve his own high place in the world without his father or his Empire. Even though he had the Sacred Gear Arondight within him since birth and didn't earn that he nevertheless felt proud at his previous accomplishments up to today.

'_I proved I can survive and achieve a better standing on my own.' _Lelouch thought as he would love the chance to confront his father, but now knowing he was a devil and thus under the jurisdiction of the supernatural world and the underworld the former prince of Britannia felt it in his blood a confrontation with his father in the future was more possible than ever before now. _'I was worried because of the fact he was a human ruling a government supernatural beings cannot interfere with, but with this revelation about his true nature I think that might be changing.' _

Lelouch realized that in the future…he with the support of the underworld would likely take steps to deal with his father as a renegade devil, but first he knew the matter of ensuring the Fallen Angels and the Church wouldn't interfere had to be addressed.

"Of course with as many perks as that title comes with and the fact you are of pure blood status here is the catch." Sirzechs began.

"Aside from a wife I assume there is a wish for me to take on consorts."

"You know devils of your rank and especially those who are heads of devil households have consorts who are managed by their wife. Even my own father has…a harem, the same the heads of other households."

"No chance a position for the rank of Devil King is going to be opening up any time soon?" Lelouch asked with an amused smile.

Lelouch knew that despite how powerful they were the Devil Kings were forbidden from gathering consorts of their own despite the need to repopulate their kind and restore pure blood families. This measure was likely to keep any future devil kings from a creating a new clan around their devil titles which could make it impossible for members of other devil families to assume the title or lead to a different kind of trouble further down the road.

Sirzechs chuckled at this before answering. "Sorry, but that is unlikely Lelouch and you are still far in terms of raw power from being capable of obtaining that rank…not yet at least."

"Yes of course I guess when I am capable of leveling small countries I'll be ready then right." Lelouch said as he and Sirzechs enjoyed a good laugh.

"Anyway I am not trying to force the matter on you, but I am warning you of the expectations that will be held for you by other devil houses and the elders. I completely understand you wishing to refuse the idea of taking on consorts in addition to having a wife given your experiences with the Britannian Royal Family."

"But you are warning me because other devils and elders might believe otherwise and find a way to force the issue." Lelouch answered which Sirzechs nodded as the correct answer.

"I am not asking you to like and just accept the matter, but at least show that you are considering it and it should keep the elders and other high ranking devils off your back. Although I cannot guarantee if that would work either, but it's just one of the many things a devil of your title must be aware of."

"I understand what you are saying Sirzechs-sama and I appreciate the warnings. I know the idea of consorts for the devils of high rank is to help repopulate your race and ensure those children wouldn't only be of pure blood but potentially quite powerful." Lelouch said as he was more than fully aware of the situation for devils as a whole. Even with consorts the birth rate of newborn devils was much lower than that of humans.

Sirzechs and Grayfia didn't have their own first child until recently and they had been a couple for more than a couple hundred years.

"I appreciate your understanding and we'll try to help you as much as we can to avoid any potential political entanglements." Sirzechs offered.

"So does this mean I am on the market now as an eligible bachelor?"

"Not yet, but devils are beginning to ask about who was the devil who made the alliance between us and Asgard possible. We're going to try to keep you from being known as long as possible, because once word gets out about your possession of your Sacred Gear and the fact you are a pure-blooded devil with a special immunity then you can imagine what will happen."

"It means I'll have even more women throwing themselves at me." Lelouch said with an annoyed expression. "It's bad enough I have to deal with it here at Ashford Academy."

"Well you have the tall and mysterious bit going for you so that is usually something that draws a woman's interest." Sirzechs said with an amused smile.

"Hooray for me." Lelouch said in a self-mocking tone, but Lelouch was certain that the interest of the women of Ashford Academy was more of a physical nature than genuine interest in him. Besides the Lelouch they knew was just a mask and not the real him Sirzechs, Nunnally, Serafall and others knew.

"If anything, you have some more time while you are still single?"

"Are you trying to incite me to seek out a wife?" Lelouch asked raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe, but we both know how you are when it comes to trust and taking that into account I am sure you want to be sure anyone you marry you will not only love but can trust completely am I wrong?"

"No you're right, although I got no ideas on anyone in mind but."

"Sona is still single if you were interested." Sirzechs pointed out causing a light blush to appear on Lelouch's face before he looked at Sirzechs was a look of annoyance.

"I thought you were going to suggest your sister?" Lelouch asked after regaining his composure.

"True, but as you know she is already engaged to another unless…you wish to challenge that?"

"We'll see…" Lelouch said eyeing the Satan suspiciously.

Lelouch was aware of Rias's engagement to Riser Phenex of the Phenex Family, but aside from Riser who was all for it Rias was against it from what he had gathered. From a political standpoint Sirzechs couldn't do anything about it without it being seen as an abuse of his power as a devil king by the elders, but Lelouch saw that Sirzechs was hoping he would possible challenge Riser for Rias's hand to save her from a loveless marriage.

With that in mind Lelouch also understood why Sirzechs was warning him of what would come for him. Even if Lelouch doesn't want to he knew the elders and other devil families would probably find a way for Lelouch to accept their daughter as a wife or a consort as part of a marriage deal of some kind. Sirzechs merely wanted Lelouch to avoid the same situation Rias had been put into while hoping to keep another woman from avoiding it by having their parents trying to push her towards Lelouch.

'_It's not so much about me marrying as soon as possible, but you just want me to avoid a situation similar to the one Rias is in.'_

"Anyway it's late and I'll leave you to reflect on what I told you. I don't want to rush you into any of this but you know how the politics of the underworld works now. As a count from an unknown devil family affiliated with Gremory might buy you some time, but just don't get careless Lelouch. You're going to be stepping into a new kind of battle zone soon so you'll need to stay on your toes."

"I understand and I appreciate you warning me in advance."

"Of course, but if you need help don't hesitate to seek me out."

"I remember that…" Lelouch said as the meeting between the two came to an end.

* * *

The following morning Lelouch was tired as he didn't really sleep well last night which was a combination from his return trip and the meeting he had with Sirzechs which kept him up for most of the night to contemplate and think about what the future held in store for him. Romance and marriage was the last thing on Lelouch's mind, but he did understand the concerns and complications that might arise which Sirzechs was warning him of.

'_I'll need to think of some plans and potential countermeasures to stay single for a while longer or until I can find someone, but…' _Lelouch thought as he was thinking of more ways to escape ending up in an early marriage while at least maybe show he was looking for someone. Granted he would be more comfortable with considering Sona or Rias since he was familiar with them, but he didn't know what their feelings were for him.

He would preferably focus his efforts on more pressing matters, but he knew this was one of those issues that would likely pester him for awhile. Of course there was the possibility someone else might have feelings of the romantic nature for him, but no one else came to mind that he was aware of.

As Lelouch took a deep breath he readied himself for another boning day through Ashford Academy, but it would give him a chance to rest and clear his head a little before focusing his efforts on training his new peerage.

'_Maybe if it comes down to do I could do what Sona did?' _Lelouch thought as he contemplated using the tactic Sona used in order to get out of an engagement she had been stuck in by beating her fiancé in chess and declare she refused to marry anyone not smarter than her.

Another thought that came to Lelouch's mind was the fact that Sirzechs seemed more hesitant to act against his father the Emperor of Britannia and the royal family.

'_The fact Sirzechs wants to avoid conflict with the church and the Fallen Angels before dealing with the Emperor suggests that there must be something else going on. Recalling when he found the EU attempting to weaponize the Casket of Ancient Winters made the young man wonder if there was much more going on than simply trying to gain an edge against Britannia.' _

Lelouch's mind was going into overdrive contemplating hundreds of different thoughts and topics he had been thinking about, but he was brought out of his thoughts as class began. However when the teacher walked in Lelouch saw what seemed to be a new student to enter the room. Like other female students she wore the black skirt, white dress shirt with a beige jacket trimmed with yellow worn over it, a green tie and blue socks complete with black shoes. The girl seemed to be the same age as Lelouch, but she was slightly shorter than he was, with long black hair that reached down to her hips, a fair skin complexion, violet eyes and an attractive figure.

"Everyone before we get started I would like to introduce a new student." Their teacher said before turning to the girl gesturing for her to introduce herself. "Go on now…"

"Hello everyone I will be starting to attend Ashford Academy starting today…my name is Yuuma Amano."

* * *

A/N: Yes people Raynare is at Ashford Academy, so does this mean the Fallen Angels are onto Lelouch or could she be stalking another target at the academy? I could have used a different name I know, but I wanted to end the chapter on the cliffhanger of Raynare arriving in Ashford Academy as a new student.

I suspect some of you expected Kallen to be his queen in his peerage, but I chose Rossweisse over Kallen because in terms of magical power and combat skill she is a much better choice since she can take full advantage of the perks that comes with being a Queen.

Also after discussing pairing possibilities with VOGoshinki I have decided to give Raynare a shot at joining Lelouch's peerage and possibly his harem.

HOWEVER allow me to note that I do realize that she would be probably among the more difficult to pair with Lelouch in this story given her treacherous nature and Lelouch's own issues with trusting others so yeah a lot of work will need to be done to make this work. So I am not making any promises hence why I said she would get a chance. Everything else will depend on how the story plays out and how things between her and Lelouch will go. Her treacherous nature is what made me hesitant to consider her initially, but I have been convinced to reconsider.

So for those hoping to see Raynare included keep your fingers crossed.

For those wanting to see Lelouch chose Kallen over the other girls...I will say right now that is unlikely since she has yet to make an appearance yet. But she does have a better chance of getting paired with Lelouch than Raynare does. I have some plans in mind to include her in Lelouch's peerage and maybe his harem depending on how events surrounding Raynare goes.

I just don't want to make a trend of Lelouch obtaining servants through convenient scenarios if I can avoid it.

Speaking of the harem….as a fun contrast to Issei…Lelouch doesn't wish to have a harem and romance isn't even on his mind at the moment, but he knows it's going to be one of those issues he'll need to deal with. How he overcomes this "reluctance" will take time and that will be a factor in who gets paired with Lelouch as the question is who could help him overcome that reluctance for a harem.

Rossweisse will play a major role of course as she will be the calm voice of reason between contest between Sona and Serafall for Lelouch and he'll support him during the troubles ahead.

I would at this time like to list out the characters whom I would be interested in pairing with Lelouch in his harem as I am looking at personalities and how compatible they are with not only Lelouch but how they can work off the others involved with him for sake of advancing the story and development of Lelouch's character.

DxD characters I would like to try that no one else has seemed to use: Tsubasa Yura, Irina Shidou, Reya Kusaka, Tomoe Meguri, Ruruko Nimura, Tsubaki Shinra, Katase (the pink haired Kendo club girl), Murayama, Momo Hanakai, and Aika Kiryuu (although I am a bit reluctant on her)

Code Geass characters: Oldrin Zevon, Shirley Fenette, Ayano Kosaka, Leila Malcal, Kallen and Milly Ashford.

Now don't worry Akeno and Xenovia I am considering as well, but the names mentioned above are merely characters who I would like to try out as opposed to the usual and more traditional characters used in DxD and CG when harems are involved.

Katase (the pink haired girl and not the old general) and Murayama I plan on including in Lelouch's peerage regardless if they become involved in his harem because…let's just say they are going to be trouble for Issei when Rias and Lelouch face one another in a Rating Game, considering how much Issei and his friends tend to peep on them.

Also Lelouch always trade members of his peerage with Sona, Rias or maybe others depending on who it is and the situation in the story, which Ravel is trying to do with Issei once he becomes a king of his own peerage.

Other characters I decided not to attempt because of various reasons. Kuroka I thought about, but I am not sure if she and Lelouch can work out. Others are either too villainous, taken already or won't appear until too late in the story.

Now finally Lelouch's family tree and I am sure you guys are wondering how Lelouch can be a pure blooded devil when he had an Angel as a descendant. Well there is more to that story and it will be revealed later, but remember there was a number of descendants before Lelouch who carried Arondight as it passed from the eldest child to the next through many generations as they didn't just have children with humans…or assuming the children of that line were even human to begin with.

More will be revealed, although I admit I didn't consider Lelouch for being related to Azazel, but seeing how similar Azrael was to Azazel I reconsidered.

Something else that will come back and haunt him in some ways later *evil laughter*

And yes the soul inside Lelouch's Sacred Gear is that of a Dragon Emperor, but not one of the heavens. He is in some ways is a rival to both Vail and Issei, but that will be explored further as the story divulges more into the details of their history. I have decided on a name for the dragon, but I am not sure if it's the best one I am holding back for now.

Anyway I hope this answers whatever questions you might have had and I look forward to your reviews and thank you in advance for them.


	5. Chapter 5 New Students and Complications

A/N: Thank you for the reviews and the feedback it is greatly appreciated.

Also thanks to ReaperAsOfLate for helping me chose a name for the dragon sealed inside of Lelouch's sword.

With this chapter Lelouch begins focusing on training his peerage, but the same time he is keeping an eye on Raynare to determine her objective at Ashford Academy. Of course he is also being cautious to avoid exposing himself to the Fallen Angels to avoid endangering Ashford Academy and his friends, especially those who are not Devils.

The "Rise of the Demonic Dragon Emperor" arc will end with a clash between Lelouch's peerage and Riser Phenex's peerage, however depending on how events go he will likely borrow Issei since he has "dibs" on Riser.

Such a clash was one of the reasons why I had contemplated a Rias and Lelouch pairing since it would have justified such a battle more easily. However even if I don't do Rias and Lelouch I do have a contingency plan in place to make it happen if I go for Serafall and/or Sona. I am withholding a final decision on that one since I do wonder if I can make Serafall and Sona paired with Lelouch work considering one or two issues that might arise with it.

I am just going to see how things play out, but I have some doubts about doing both of them. But I am going to make them compete for Lelouch so the winner will get him or both of them. Provided Sona is willing to share with Serafall, which I have some doubts she might not while as we all know her sister Serafall would be a different story lol.

This is truly a difficult decision. Make no mistake you have all presented good arguments for those three.

Aside from that I forgot to mention at the beginning of the story that I will be using elements from the anime, manga and light novels. For example I'll be going more with the manga version of Riser who I felt will be more of a threat than his anime counterpart, not a whole lot but there were elements of his character that I liked better in the way I feel he would make him more of a proper antagonist to pit against Lelouch and Rias of course given the situation she is facing.

Also on my profile some of you noticed I put up a curiosity poll of shorts to determine which of Sona's peerage might good choices for Lelouch's harem, but also I am using it to gauge who might end up being traded to Lelouch's own peerage. Of course Sona will get something good out of the deal, so don't worry I'll make it a good trade for both parties.

Obviously Lelouch won't be trading Queens through.

I was late in posting it and I forgot about it until hours later when posting the last chapter, so I am leaving it up for three more days following the posting of this chapter. After which I am going to swap it out for the Code Geass character curiosity poll which will determine what you would be interested in seeing introduced into the harem and/or peerage. It will stay up until I am ready to post the next chapter, after which I'll post the last curiosity poll I'll put up for the time being.

The question it will ask will be this: should Xenovia or Irina join Lelouch's peerage and possibly his harem?

I could do Xenovia easily all things considered, but I have been contemplating Irina through. Still I am considering who would be the best choice for Lelouch and the story as a whole. The poll will give me a feel of what you guys think which will help me in my decision but it won't be the final say on it through.

Regardless through I do look forward to Azazel and Lelouch meeting considering that Azazel is "technically" family for Lelouch I think some of you can guess what kind of trouble might be ahead for him lol. But at least he does have family from his mother's side around for him to help him and provide guidance in his rather complicated and troublesome love life later on in the story LOL.

Now let's get to the chapter where Kallen will be getting a proper introduction into the story, but so will someone else I created who is going to show what Lelouch's recent actions have resulted in. After all for what purpose was the EU making that weapon for?

And this will also answer the question if Geass and Codes will play a part in the story.

* * *

Chapter 5

New Students and Complications

Some might call Lelouch Lamperouge paranoid, but ever since he had been coming to Ashford Academy while using the school as his base of operations while in the human realm he had taken precautions to avoid being caught off guard like his mother had been. So to that extent Lelouch investigated every new student who came to the academy especially those who join his class. Considering the kind of work he had been doing for Sirzechs and the other Devil Kings he did consider the possibility that he might be discovered and that his enemies would seek retribution.

The same could be said about Britannia as well too.

So it wasn't so much as Lelouch being paranoid, but rather he was being extremely cautious. As such Lelouch investigated Yuuma Amano and found a number of red flags suggesting she wasn't exactly who she claimed to be.

'_The records seemed to be one hastily. Much of the information is too generic and something someone has pasted and copy using bits from other people's files. Furthermore there is evidence of memory manipulation through magic.' _Lelouch thought sitting in class while casting a glance at Yuuma. _'If this is some attempt at the Fallen Angels or the Church to get back at me then this is not very well thought out.'_

That was provided if he was even the target.

'_This seems to be too quick of a response to what happened recently, so it's possible I am not the target. But who is it?' _Lelouch thought as he couldn't think of anyone who was attending the school who could be a target of the Fallen Angels or the Church. _'Could there be a Sacred Gear user I am not aware of here?' _

All Lelouch could do was quietly observe Yuuma without drawing her notice.

* * *

Across the world it was early morning being around three am as a fog bank began rolling across the waters of the Aegean Sea and into the Port of Piraeus before blanketing the city of Athens. In the waters protecting the Port of Piraeus was a number of EU destroyers with a single battleship acting as the flagship for the defense of the harbor and protecting the capital from any threats from the sea. For the past few weeks the city of Athens has been on edge because of an aggressive Britannian Offense that claimed a number of the islands near Greece with the most major capture being the island of Crete being lost to the Britannia after a shocking surprise attack on the island.

Now the country of Greece feared that Britannia was planning an invasion of their country, but their call for support from the rest of the European Union has been met with ridicule stating that the Britannians would not commit to another potentially costly battlefront when they were being occupied with their forces on the Northern Africa and Egyptian fronts. But far off the coast and out of their detection range was a Britannian carrier at the center of a fleet of ships consisting of ten destroyers and five battleships with six aircraft carriers.

The Britannian Carrier at the center of the fleet was much larger than the other aircraft carriers being a type of super carrier that not only supported aircraft, but also Knightmare Transports for deployments from the sea or by air-drop. Standing near the bow of the mighty vessel stood four men, one of them kneeling on his knees was the exorcist Lelouch had captured a few days ago from the facility in France. Once Odin was done with interrogating him for information he was to be sent back to the Church to face judgment for his crimes, but unfortunately for him he never arrived in Italy and was abducted while being transported to the Vatican after Odin released him to the custody of the Church.

The exorcist had been beaten and bruised by the two men standing alongside him. They were members of the Royal Guard wearing red and yellow trimmed tunic-style uniforms with black pants with black gloves on their hands. One of them held the bound exorcist while the other punched him in the face as they continued with their interrogation of the man.

"I swear that is all I know." The exorcist said before spiting up some blood along with a tooth.

"For your sake you better be right, but your life is hanging on by a thread right now."

The person who spoke was young man of seventeen with short chin-length blue hair with a dark yellow eye while his right eye was covered by a black ornate eye patch lined with silver with a few gems hanging from it. He wore a black uniform trimmed with gold along with a jacket with a high collar with gold ornate decoration on his shoulders with a black cape possessing a wine red interior.

"I swear to god that is all I know."

His yellow eye flashed with anger at the begging exorcist's words prompting the blue haired man to grab the poor soul by the throat and lift him off the ground with one hand as he began crushing his throat with his hand.

"NEVER…utter such words in my presence you worthless weakling."

The exorcist's eyes widened in horror as he struggled in vain against the powerful grip of the one choking the life out of him, but nothing he did could save him until the life faded from his eyes as the blue haired young man crushed his throat killing him. Tossing the dead exorcist aside like a rag doll once he was certain the man was dead he gestured to his men to dispose of the body.

"My lord our forces are ready awaiting your orders." A military aid in a gray uniform trimmed with red and gold said approaching the blue haired young man.

"Good mobilize our forces and give the command to begin the siege of the city."

"Yes my lord." The attendant hurried away to relay his superior's orders.

* * *

Thirty minutes later the naval forces protecting Athens from the sea was suddenly shaken by Sakuradite Mines below them and out towards the sea prematurely detonating. They had been placed in the waters around Athens has a last line of defense against a Britannian invasion force should their naval forces fail to stop them. Unfortunately someone had activated the mines causing them to detonate and destroy their own forces. Chaos erupted among the navy as the ships were trying to get out of the minefield, but it was hopeless. With most of the mines having detonated the Britannian Fleet was approaching the city as the carriers were launching two dozen amphibious Knightmare Frames called the RMI-13 Portman to pick off the last of the naval defenses to clear away for their ground forces to land.

Four dozen speeding boats rushed pass the burning wreckage of the naval ships before reaching land to release scores of RPI-13 Sutherlands, Britannian's current main stream Knightmare Frame, into the city as they began engaging the caught off guard EU forces protecting the city. The destroyers and battleships took up positions as they began raining missiles and artillery fire down upon the city. Once the Britannian Forces had established a beach ahead as more of their ground forces were being deployed from transport ships which included tanks, armored transport vehicles and even infantry.

Entering the battlefield himself aboard his personal Knightmare Frame, which was a black and red trimmed RPI-209 Gloucester, but instead of being armed with just a lance and an assault rifle his machine had two scabbards for a pair of swords located on the sides of his cockpit block. Six members of the Royal Guard assigned to him followed in their own Gloucester which was armed with the standard armaments.

"All forces are to proceed to their assigned points and assault them before the EU has a chance to mount a proper counter offensive." The blue-haired young man ordered as he and his escort charged through the city as parts of it have already been devastated by bombardment and fighting between Britannia forces and the city's defenders.

The blue haired teen grinned evilly as he and his escort hurried through the city streets at how smoothly everything had gone.

'_To think they went so far to steal the Casket of Ancient Winter from Odin to produce a weapon to stop me. Even without that Black Knight interfering it wouldn't have done them little good, but…it did inconvenience my plans through.' _The young man thought, which unknown to those who had been seeking to weaponize the Casket of Ancient Winters he had been aware of it and was planning on using the resulting incident and involvement of Church to his advantage. _'Oh I'll just have to change plans.' _

As the group of Gloucesters neared the military headquarters they came across a group of nine European Union Knightmare Frames the Mk3-E2E8 Panzer-Hummel. The nine machines saw the incoming enemy Knightmare Frames and began opening fire with their auto-cannons mounted on the arms of their machines. The seven Gloucesters scattered as three of them readied their assault rifles while the rest including their leader were taking up flanking positions. One of them using a building as cover attempted to flank the Panzer-Hummels from the right with its lance drawn, but he was cut down by enemy machine cannon fire.

The EU Knightmare Frames fought back using missiles to keep their foes at bay, but the blue haired young man hurled a Chaos Grenade at them forcing the enemy EU machines to scatter breaking their ranks. Two of the Gloucesters emerged to engage the scattered enemy machines impaling one with their lance while another one gunned down a second EU Knightmare Frame.

Their leader the black Gloucester hurled its lance impaling another Panzer-Hummel causing it to explode before the black machine drew its swords. Dodging machine cannon and auto cannon fire the black machine dodged their attacks, but the other Gloucesters pressed their advance attacking the remaining six enemy machines. Side-stepping one enemy machine the Black Knightmare Frame cleaved into the Panzer-Hummel with both of its blade destroying it while his companions protected their leader with support fire. Without much close range options the EU Knightmare Frames were easy prey for the more close range orientated Gloucester.

Once their opposition had been eliminated the group proceeded on their way to Military Headquarters were the bulk of their forces had already reached engaging the last desperate defenders of the base. Attacking from the side the blue-haired young man led his escort through a side entrance into the base as the majority of their forces were invested in confronting the Britannian Army attacking from the front.

They encountered opposition, but it wasn't as heavy as what the Britannian Army was facing.

"Have we caught them so off guard they didn't have enough time to plan a proper defense and they just moved all of their troops to fend off our main force?" The blue-haired young man said with a smirk.

The six Gloucesters blitzed into the area swiftly using Chaos Grenades to wipe out most of the opposition that consisted mostly of infantry and tanks, but there were a couple of Panzer-Hummels guarding the area, but quickly fell to the fast attacks of their opposition.

"Alright the rest of you stay out here and guard my machine and this entrance…I am going in." The blue haired young man announced leaving the cockpit of his machine. The guards with him didn't protest, but they quietly followed their orders.

The young man had removed his cape, but brought with him a few grenades and some C4 explosives with a timer detonator or could remotely detonate them. His only other weapon he had was a pair of court swords with gold hilts, but oddly instead of normal metal their blades were seemingly composed out of pure light. The young man entered the building, but he was quickly met by seven EU soldiers who trailed their guns upon him. Seemingly unconcerned he held onto one of his swords in one hand before quickly with blinding speed side-stepped their bullets before rushing pass them, but the cut through their necks with quick and very precise cuts his enemies didn't see coming.

The soldiers were dead in seconds, so the young man continued on his path.

Descending deep underground as he went down a flight of stairs heading for the emergency command bunker which he knew was underground. He didn't meet any resistance until he reached a wide open room that looked like a supply bunker, but the elevator that led to the underground bunker was ahead which was being guarded by a dozen soldiers and a Panzer-Hummel guarding the path ahead. With another burst of inhuman speed the blue haired young man rushed the blockade ahead with him dodging bullets while using his sword to deflect any he couldn't evade.

The Panzer-Hummel's pilot quickly realized his comrades weren't going to be able to hit their target quickly began using its auto-cannons in an effort to kill their attacker, but the blue haired young man merely evaded it. He hurled a grenade during that last attack at a small group of the soldiers killing six of them before the blue haired young man attacked the rest of them. The Knightmare Frame began pulling back into the vertically lined elevator shaft as to get a clear shot at their attacker as he watched the last of his comrades fall to their enemy's light sword.

The blue haired young man quickly went after the fleeing Knightmare Frame with its pilot firing its auto cannons and machine cannons at the small fast moving target, but no matter how many times he tried his enemy evaded them to his shock and growing horror. Growing more desperate the pilot fired small missiles from his machine in a last ditch effort to kill his target before the sword wielding blue haired teen could close the distance.

The missiles exploding missiles didn't stop their target, but in fact he somehow used the explosion to propel himself through the air landing on top of the Panzer-Hummer. The teen was completely unharmed other than being a little dirty from the explosion he narrowly evaded avoiding injury while using the resulting wave of pressure to his advantage. The young man put two of his C4 bombs onto the machine with two by the cockpit and one on top. After he armed them he jumped down while the Knightmare Frame tried to shake him off, but he used his light sword to cut through the legs and its wheels on its feet causing the machine to fall back and stumble down on the vertically lined elevator shaft until it hit a heavily armored door at the bottom.

Using a remote detonator the young man set off the bombs which combined with the C4 explosives and the ordinance the Knightmare Frame was carrying it blew open the doors allowing the young man access into the bunker. Inside however he found at least over thirty soldiers waiting for him all of them armed with heavy weapons including machine guns and even had a mini-gun placement set up. Leading the last line of defense against him was an exorcist wearing the attire of a priest armed with a light sword and a pair of light guns fashioned after muskets on his belt around his waist. He was at least in his late thirties possessing a tanned complexion with short brown hair with blue eyes wearing a pair of glasses.

Upon seeing the young man enter the room the exorcist was surprised as he clearly recognized the young man.

"You…I remember you."

"It's been a long time hasn't it Father Anderson." The blue haired young man greeted. "I didn't think you would be involved with the defenders of this city."

"The Church has a special arrangement with the Prime Minister and I offered to protect him until the city can repel the invaders."

"I wouldn't count on that, especially thanks to the treaties of alliance Prime Minister Schneizel has made with Albania, the F.Y. Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey. It hasn't been announced yet, but they have broken away from the EU and become allies of Britannia."

"WHAT!"

"Don't be so surprised its all politics and considering how the core countries of the EU like France seemed more concerned about protecting their own interests than fighting a war to win." The young man said raising his arms in a mocking gesture. "Let's not forget many of the soldiers of the EU don't even want to fight in some foreign country they have no real ties to even if they are part of the EU. They would abandon the battlefield and go home not caring that Britannia will eventually conquer their country in due time."

The priest was stunned, but the young man continued.

"As such the countries like the ones I mentioned who don't hold the same level of influence and economic wealth as some of the core countries of the EU are left to suffer and be used as shields. Their leaders despised the treatment they had been receiving from the EU so they were more than happy to break away with the promises of better trading and political relations with Britannia for the sake of their countries."

"But why side with Britannia…Xander."

Xander Quarta merely grinned.

"You thought I would join an organization as pathetic as the Fallen Angels? Like those who had been exiled from the Church?" Xander said before raising his right hand and waging his finger before the exorcist. "Only Britannia had the resources I needed to achieve my goals."

"And what goals are those?"

"Revenge to put it simply…I wish it was something higher, but I am afraid its revenge among other things."

"Against the Church you mean?"

"Yes, but against Heaven as well for allowing the Holy Sword Project." Xander answered while he was growing angry, but he raised his right hand to remove his eye patch. "You're probably are thinking how can that be possible, but thanks to my allegiance to Britannia I have met some new friends who share a similar goal. For joining them I received a gift…"

Xander opened his eye that had been concealed by his eye patch revealing a dark yellow eye, but it was glowing red as the result of mythical emblem composed of red light upon it. The emblem was in the shape of a phoenix taking flight.

"What manner of witchcraft is that?"

"Witchcraft…that is actually funny, but no this is the power of the king…the power of Geass." Xander answered before drawing his second light sword.

"You think you can challenge all of us?" The priest demanded.

"I could, but once again you fail to see the bigger picture. Did you even take time to think how I managed to so easily led the Britannian Army to overrun your defenses and keep our presence unknown to you until it was too late?" Xander pointed out with a smile. "It's because I made friends with some of the locals here who don't like the church being in their territory."

As if on cue two dozen being wearing black robes decorated with various ornaments armed with scythes rushed into the room. The Grim Reapers began hacking into the terrified soldiers, some of them began fighting back but their weapons were proving largely useless. Father Anderson was about to join the fray where he came under attack by Xander who began engaging him in a fierce duel.

"Grim Reapers...then Hades is involved?"

"Yes…he has proven to be my greatest ally." Xander answered as he locked blades with the exorcist. "He has always hated the fact that the Church has been allowed to operate within the territory of the Gods of Olympus especially since more people have practicing Christianity more than worshiping them like in the old days. Zeus and Poseidon might have been fine with it, but Hades wasn't which was why he was eager to ally with me to have this country taken over by Britannia so we can begin purging Greece of those not worshiping the Gods of Olympus."

"Then the men posted at the radar and naval monitoring stations and the mines in the waters detonating?"

"That's right it was the Grim Reapers killing those who were supposed to monitor sea and skies for our approach and those loyal to Hades who arranged for that little accident with the mines." Xander said as he began pushing the older and more experienced exorcist back as Anderson couldn't grasp how he was beginning to lose to someone who was less than half his own age. Xander speed and the quickness of his attacks were staggering to say the least, but how he was able to stay ahead of every strike, parry and counterattack the priest attempted was bafflingly.

Anderson so felt his left shoulder get slashed as Xander managed to slip a strike through his defenses, but it was soon followed by another which was a vertical cut that went up his right forearm.

It was becoming very painful and difficult for the exorcist to keep using his right arm, but he pushed himself so he could use his left hand to hold onto his sword. Thus freeing his right hand to grab one of his light guns in an effort to shoot his attacker at point blank range in what was probably going to be a final effort to stop Xander. Unfortunately Xander's right eye saw this and dodged the bullet as it passed by his hair cutting off a single strand.

He dropped the gun after it missed as he could no longer hold onto the weapon as his right arm had now become useless thanks to the wound Xander inflicted upon it.

With one arm now holding his weapon the tide of battle drastically turned in Xander's favor as the younger warrior began overwhelming the older warrior by using his second light sword to stab his foe through the lunge on the fight side after blocking another attempt at a counterattack with his blade. Side-stepping his foe, just as the Grim Reapers finished off the last of the EU soldiers protecting the leaders of Greece, Xander cut off his enemy's left arm before using both blades to swiftly behead his enemy.

"I believe with that the Britannian Army is now victorious."

"Everything has gone smoothly."

"Yes it has…thanks to you and your master for aiding me." Xander said turning around to face the leader of the Grim Reapers who had aided him.

He wore black robes like the other Grim Reapers, but his robes were much darker with more ornate ornaments compared to the others. Oddly through he wore a clown mask upon his face, but his scythe was jet black as if it was solidified darkness.

"You'll remember our agreement?"

"Of course…thanks to preparations we have made before hand the new Viceroy and his advisers are loyal to your master. Since we'll be leaving some pockets of resistance that will help provide some excuses for some strikes against terrorists using any religious place of worship you and your master do not approve as bases of operation."

"Greece belongs to the Gods of Olympus…the presence of other places of worship belonging to other religions outside of them should not be allowed within our territory. The other gods are fools to ignore it and simply accept it, but Lord Hades alone has the wisdom and will to act and remove the invaders."

"This may not be the quickest method, but this way he can avoid being directly involved with the removal of the invaders as you call them. With this none of the other gods who might object to removal of these invaders cannot act against him and since what happens to them will be the result of the human government merely acting on its own interests there will be nothing to tie his involvement to it."

"Anyone we wish removed will simply be written up as a terrorist who needed to be dealt with by the new ruling government."

"Yes…Greece is now Area 19."

Suddenly the two heard the sound of a cell phone ringing.

Xander realized it was coming from Father Anderson's body. Kneeling down to search the dead exorcist he pulled out his cell phone which was the source of the sound he was hearing. He had considered destroying it, but after some consideration he decided to pick it up especially after seeing whose name was on the Caller ID.

"Father Anderson, are you there?"

"I am sorry but you just missed him." Xander replied causing the woman on the other line to gasp in shock. "I would take a message for you, but he's dead."

"X…Xander…is that you?"

"It has been a long time older sister." Xander said in a mocking tone to his legal guardian and one time sword master Griselda Quarta.

"Did you…did you kill Anderson?"

"I think the fact I have his phone should tell you that much. He didn't die as easily as the scores of EU soldiers I massacred on the way to him through. Still I was surprised to find him protecting the Prime Minister and other leaders of Greece as my forces sack Athens."

"What do you mean by YOUR FORCES?"

"Yes I guess you haven't heard the Britannian Army has invaded Greece with Athens being our primary target. The city has just fallen along with Greece, so you can call it Area 19 now." Xander explained with a proud tone in his voice.

"You have joined the Britannian Empire?"

"Yes and I am advisor and liaison to the Emperor himself…can you believe it? So take this as a warning that should you and the Church attempt any kind of retaliation against me the Empire is going to make things very difficult for you." Xander said issuing a threat while being rather cheerful about it.

"You know the Church will not stand for this?"

"Oh I am sure they won't but what can they do? I know about that little incident recently where a faction of the Church stole a powerful relic from Odin and tried to make a weapon out of it. I think I am the least of the Church's worries right now, especially since I heard that devil called the Black Knight who recovered it for Odin is immune to holy ground and holy weapons." Xander said intentionally letting that slip.

Xander grinned when he heard the surprised gasp from his former legal guardian.

"Anyway it's been fun talking to you, but please let that idiot sister of mines that I said hello." Xander said before hanging up.

"Provoking the Church into going after the Black Knight?" Pluto asked realizing Xander's intentions.

"Yes and if we are lucky we can push the Church and the Devils into a war with one another, which will greatly help your master when he makes his move to wipe them out."

"Indeed, but I am doubtful it will be that easy."

"True enough, but I think every bit helps." Xander replied as he went about securing the leaders before the arrival of the Britannian soldiers to take them into custody.

* * *

The following day Lelouch had once more returned to class as the former prince kept his eye on the new student, but so far she hadn't done anything suspicious. Checking the magical arrays and increasing their detection ability he had set up around the school he had confirmed that the girl was in fact a Fallen Angel. She was doing a good job at hiding her power and true nature which allowed her to escape initial detection until Lelouch modified the arrays. He had a number of detection arrays around the school in areas where they have the most traffic such as the changing rooms for the athletic clubs, the cafeteria and other locations where they could be hidden and concealed with magic to avoid anyone from detecting them.

But things changed when another student who had been out for most of the school year finally returned.

She had short-chin length red hair and a seemingly tired expression with blue eyes with an attractive body despite being seemingly out of it.

"Ah Kallen Stadtfeld welcome back to class I trust you are feeling better?" The teacher greeted.

Lelouch observed as Yuuma became intrigued in Kallen's arrival.

'_I can't tell anything from here, but unless there is something I am missing or that girl could have a Sacred Gear.' _Lelouch thought as he had serious doubts the Fallen Angels would be interested in the Stadtfeld Family given how they weren't exactly a very noteworthy wealthy family. _'Unless they had some kind of shady deal going on like Johann did with Kokabiel.' _

He could easily deal with the Fallen Angel as her power was not very formidable compared to others he had faced in the past, but Lelouch wanted to know what they were up to.

'_Maybe my peerage could end up seeing combat a lot sooner than I thought.' _

Lelouch thought as he began contemplating and thinking about a wide range of different scenarios including the possibilities of this Fallen Angel not working alone.

'_She can't be acting alone and maybe she was sent to draw me out, no that can't be right, but still.'_

Ultimately Lelouch decided on to keep a close eye on the Fallen Angel and find out not only what her purpose was here, but to discover if she is working alone or not.

'_If I can determine how many are with her I can begin planning on ways to eliminate them and then cover up my involvement.'_

A problem that concerned Lelouch is the fact that if he tipped his hand too far his true identity could be exposed to the Fallen Angels which could put the academy and his sister in danger of retaliation for his past actions against them.

* * *

After classes were over for the day Lelouch assigned his familiar to observe the new student, but in the meantime he was heading to the Student Council Club House for an afternoon meeting. The former prince wanted to get the meeting over with as soon as possible and turn his attention to focusing on training his peerage. He began yesterday, but attending school to maintain appearances was becoming a little taxing. However Rossweisse has proven invaluable in helping him train Ryo and the others while he was away.

However Lelouch's afternoon would not go as expected, because when he arrived inside the building he found a table with food being set up with members of the council present.

"Oh…perfect timing Lelouch." Milly greeted wearing a blue apron as she finished setting the table.

"What is going on here?"

"I guess no one told you, but we're inducting a new member into the Student Council."

"What do you mean a new member for the council?" Lelouch thought as the young man had heard nothing about that.

"Well you heard of Kallen Stadtfeld right…that red haired sickly girl who goes to your class?" Milly inquired before Lelouch nodded in confirmation. "Since her health keeps her from taking part in other club activities my grandfather thought it might be a good idea to bring her into the student council."

"You mean the principle?"

'_I guess this could make keeping an eye on Kallen easily.' _Lelouch thought seeing an advantage this situation was giving him.

"So here we are." Rivalz announced as he arrived with Kallen in tow. "We're a few members short right now, but here are some of the student council members."

"Shirley and Nina are finishing up a few reports upstairs so they should be here soon, so we can focus on having fun." Milly noted with a playful wink.

"So this is our Vice-President Lelouch Lamperouge and our wonderful President Milly Ashford." Rivalz said introducing the two to Kallen who seemed to be either tried or not overly interested in what was going on.

"I guess since it's a requirement for all students to be in a club I suppose this would be the best thing for her." Lelouch said in contemplation before addressing Kallen. "If I am not mistaken you were out for most of the school year so far am I wrong?"

"You're right about that, but I am not actually sure about this whole student council thing myself through." Kallen admitted.

"There isn't any actual work except for the paperwork, planning the school festivals and working out the budgets." Lelouch explained before adding. "So even with your health problems I doubt you should have much trouble…think of it as mostly a desk job."

"Sounds exciting…"

"Well when Milly is involved you can be sure things will be exciting and over the top." Lelouch mused with a grin.

"What do you mean by over the top?" Milly pouted.

"Last month's Christmas Party?" Lelouch said with a deadpan expression.

"Well…" Milly was clearly nervous about something, but she shook it off. "At least the fireworks display didn't cause a fire."

"Among other things I rather not talk about." Lelouch said while silently thanking his devil body that allowed him to avoid falling prey to the chaos that one Milly Ashford planned. He and Nunnally managed to survive most of these over the top events unscratched, but it was those times that he became increasingly tempted to transfer to Kuoh Academy.

The only reason he didn't was because of the fact that Sona and Rias would have eventually found out about his jobs he had been doing for the Four Devil Kings, which Sirzechs wanted to keep the two female devils from learning about. But now that he was going to go public with himself in the underworld soon Lelouch may still change his mind.

'_I hope she never becomes a devil…the underworld wouldn't survive her.' _

At that moment Nina and Shirley having finished whatever task Milly had given them had arrived coming down the stairs from the second floor to join the gathering.

"Now everyone is here, so this is Shirley and this one is Nina." Rivalz said finishing off introductions for the Student Council.

However one unofficial member was late to the gathering through.

"Excuse me Milly, but where do you want theses?" Nunnally said walking in holding four Pizza Hut boxes.

"You can put them down on this table Nunnally." Milly said pointing at the table she wanted them on.

"Ok!"

"And that is Nunnally, Lelouch's little sister, although she is not an official member because she is still in middle school but she is an honorary member in our book."

"It's nice to meet you Kallen." Nunnally said greeting the red head warmly.

"You as well."

During the celebration Lelouch noticed through the corner of his eye that Yuuma was outside observing the whole gathering. Knowing what she was left Lelouch on edge and a feeling of nervousness at the danger she presented to Milly and the others concerned him. However he soon noticed that the black haired woman was eyeing Rivalz as much as she had been watching Kallen, which made Lelouch wonder a number of new possibilities.

'_Could she have been actually searching for her target or is she noticing something about Rivalz?' _Lelouch thought as he began to wonder if she had something on her to detect Sacred Gears or there was something else that was unknown to him.

He managed to remain seemingly obvious to the fact that he had been watching her very subtly through the use of mirrors around the ballroom area of the Student Council Clubhouse or using other moments of opportunity to watch her.

* * *

The rest of the party went off without a hitch, something that worried Lelouch since some of their previous parties had some kind of mishap that was usually the result of Milly trying to spice things up. The former prince took it as a likely omen that trouble was on the horizon. As his familiar kept his watchful vigil over Yuuma the former prince found time to go to a pocket dimension Serafall had set up for them allowing Rossweisse and the others a place to train. It was a recreation of Ashford Academy contained in a space similar to that of a Rating Game, but it provided a perfect opportunity to train with no one from the outside accidently stumbling in.

Lelouch arrived stepping out from the recreated Student Council Clubhouse to see Ryo and Rossweisse engaged in a sparring match. Sitting nearby and observing was Leila, Yukiya and Ayano who were taking a break from their own training to adapt and get use to their new bodies and powers as devils.

"I see things have been going well." Lelouch complimented.

"Rossweisse is one strict instructor." Yukiya said with a sigh. "But I think I have gotten the hang of this."

"Good we'll be teaching you the fundamentals of magic next."

"Now that sounds interesting…I am looking forward to that one."

"Should we tell him about what we discovered with Ryo today?" Leila suggested.

"What do you mean?" Lelouch inquired.

"You said you had a Sacred Gear right?"

"Yes…wait do you mean Ryo has a Sacred Gear?" Lelouch said quickly realizing where the conversation was heading.

"He discovered it by accident early today when Ryo and I were sparring with one another." Ayano said joining the conversation. "He has been training with Rossweisse to tap into it and sustain it."

Lelouch examined Ryo closely and he saw his Sacred Gear that had manifested upon his hands as spiked gauntlets.

Intrigued Lelouch observed as Ryo jumped back to evade an attack from Rossweisse's spear to pick up a broken branch from a tree to use as a weapon, which Lelouch saw was suddenly empowered by some kind of magical energy. The former prince was stunned when he saw the branch collided against the spear that Rossweisse was using, but yet the branch showed no signs of breaking. The fight went on for a few more minutes until both Ryo and Rossweisse thought it was time for a break so they stopped.

"Impressive, so your Sacred Gear allows you to take whatever object that be classified as a weapon and wield it while your Sacred Gear empowers it making it much stronger." Lelouch said having deduced the function of his Sacred Gear from observation.

"Pretty awesome huh…I want to see what this baby can do when I use it with guns." Ryo said with a big smile.

"Since you were converted into a devil with a mutation piece your power and your abilities will grow. You might even obtain a Balance Breaker."

"Balance Breaker?" Ryo inquired.

"Excuse me Lelouch, but I heard it only mentioned but what is a Sacred Gear?" Leila inquired.

Sacred Gears also known as God's Artifacts are items with powerful abilities bestowed upon humans by the original God from the Bible. They were created centuries ago during the great three way war. They were created as a part of God's system to enact miracles on Earth. Throughout history certain people who have obtained Sacred Gears have grown to become very powerful and influential and that a large number of the people who have had their names etched into history, were most likely Sacred Gear possessors."

"So how many are there?" Leila asked.

"I am not sure, but probably more than I can count. However there can be more than one Sacred Gear of the same type such as Blade Blacksmith and Twice Critical to name a few. Sacred Gears can vary from the common Twice Critical, to the rare Sacred Gears that are one of a kind, with the only exception being the Longinus-type which is the rarest and much more powerful types of Sacred Gears, which are all unique in their own way." Lelouch explained.

"So is mines a rare one?" Ryo asked with a hopeful look in his eye.

"I am not quite sure, but yours isn't one I have seen often." Lelouch answered. "Only humans or human hybrids can be born with Sacred Gears, although I am an exception due to my lineage. However Devils can obtain them by resurrecting a human or human hybrid as one of their own. The Fallen Angels I have heard have devised a ceremony to extract and possess a Sacred Gear from the original user, but the removal of one's Sacred Gear will kill the owner."

"Ok so don't get captured by the Fallen Angels." Ryo said making a mental note to avoid capture.

"But remember Ryo the key to increasing the power of your Sacred Gear is through desire." Lelouch explained.

"What do you mean by desire?" Yukiya asked.

"Sacred Gears are driven with the power of desire. And it also determines the power for it as well. The stronger you desire, the stronger your Sacred Gear will respond to you. Sacred Gears can also adapt and evolve based on your thoughts, needs, and feelings, gaining abilities or qualities as time passes. This is what can lead you to obtaining a Balance Breaker, and suggested to be the source of the transformation into a Sub-Species granting you even more power and new abilities."

"How do you achieve Balance Breaker?" Ryo asked.

"It's not easy, but Balance Breaker is often triggered by high emotions combined with a change in the heart or spirit of the wielder. But once you achieve it you can tap into it more easily than the first time, but depending on its ability you will need training to properly harness its power and maintain it for longer periods." Lelouch explained.

"So did you achieve a Balance Breaker then?" Ryo inquired who was very curious if Lelouch had achieved Balance Breaker.

Lelouch merely smiled.

"If you guys get stronger I'll answer that question for you Ryo so you can see what you'll have to look forward to."

* * *

A/N: well there you have it Britannia or rather Charles has his own Darth Vader style character in Xander Quarta who is the twin brother of Xenovia, a former member of the Holy Sword Project. But unlike Kiba and the other poor souls who died he was a complete success in a way, which will be elaborated upon in future chapters when the Excalibur swords will be brought into play.

I drew inspiration for Xander from King Further Bradley/Wrath from Full Metal Alchemist for his fighting style and the nature of his Geass power.

And troubling is the fact Britannia has an alliance with Hades and the Grim Reapers, which as part of the deal was to drive out the outside influence of other religions since Hades is known in the light novels he despises beings of other mythologies especially Devils and Fallen Angels, wishing to get rid of them. Either way its all build up to what will probably come later on in the story, and the resulting aftermath of the invasion of Greece is going to be another factor in what will push the three great powers into an alliance later.

Besides I felt this wouldn't be a Code Geass crossover without a battle involving Knightmare Frames and Geass.

I have a general idea of the kind of peerage I am going to be building for Lelouch with a few to be recruited in the coming chapters, although Raynare remains to be my biggest question mark due to how I am seeing few ways to make it work considering her nature through so yeah. But mind you guys I will be considering some members of Lelouch's peerage to be possibly traded with Sona or maybe someone else. I don't know who right now as I can't think of anyone, but I am looking at Tsubasa, Momo, Tomoe, Reya and Ruruko so far from Sona's group.

Not all four of them will be trading themselves to Lelouch or at least I don't see it happening unless I am convinced otherwise.

Anyway I got a lot of ideas and thoughts for this story just need to settle on the best ones and move forward.

Next chapter Raynare makes her move and who will her target be?

Thank you in advance for the reviews and the feedback they are very much appreciated.


	6. Chapter 6 Devilish Obstacles

A/N: Thank you all for those who have reviewed.

And I have a better idea of how the harem might go and yes Kallen will be in it, but as for the peerage itself as well too I have gotten no shortage of ideas from readers and suggestions regarding it and the harem, but I am going to save my response and suggestion to narrow it down for the end of the chapter.

So without further delay let us get into the next chapter.

Also be sure to check out the shout out I left in the last chapter for an author who has provided some great help.

* * *

Chapter 6

Devilish Obstacles

For two days Yuuma didn't attempt anything that would be considered a hostile action, which was beginning to frustrate and annoy Lelouch. He contemplated more possibilities behind her actions including the fact she might have been waiting to see if she was trying to determine if anyone knew about her targets or there was something else prompting her to wait as long as she did. In order to change things a little Lelouch knew he would need another set of eyes upon Kallen, because he reasoned that if he knew more about her perhaps he could determine the Fallen Angel's interests in her and maybe find out if anyone else was watching her.

It was early morning as he and Nunnally were eating breakfast together when he decided to ask.

"Nunnally, could I borrow your familiar for a reconnaissance mission?"

"Huh why would you need to borrow Pumpkin-kun?" Nunnally asked surprised by her brother's request.

"A Fallen Angel has infiltrated the school and has been interested in Kallen, but it seems Rivalz might also be a target." Lelouch explained, although no one could tell it easily Lelouch and Nunnally wore special rings when in their civilian roles in order to mask their auras might it difficult expect for the strongest of beings from realizing they are devils hence why the Fallen Angel hasn't noticed Nunnally and Lelouch were devils.

The fact that Lelouch was suppressing his own demonic power better helped the ring he wore on his right ring finger in concealing it.

"So you already have your familiar following the Fallen Angel right?"

Lelouch nodded before he added. "I don't know the reason for her interest in Kallen and I don't know if she is working alone. So I need another pair of eyes to follow Kallen on the off chance I could learn something."

"I guess you can't ask your peerage and it's too bad Sayoko-san isn't a member of your peerage. She is a ninja right?" The younger girl pointed, which did remind Lelouch of something he had been thinking.

Aside from monitoring Yuuma the young former prince had been looking to expand the ranks of his peerage with Sayoko being one of those he was considering. Her skills as someone who has been trained as the thirty-seventh Successor of the Shinozaki School of martial arts would make for a good pawn in his peerage since her skills as a ninja and an assassin could allow her to sneak into enemy territories to quickly promote herself into a Queen and possibly get the jump on enemies via ambush.

'_If Sayoko could teach some of the others the art of stealth that would help Ryo and the others during a rating game to sneak to the enemy's home base for some quick promotions.' _Lelouch thought as he was considering that possibly.

He was just trying to determine the best way to approach Sayoko on it.

'_I can't exactly be causal about it, but I need to take care of this business with the Fallen Angel first and then I'll think of something for recruiting Sayoko.' _

"Yes her abilities would be useful in this situation, but for now I must work with what I have available. However I'll ask Yukiya to see if he can't find anything on the Stadtfeld Family that could be suspicious that hopefully might explain what is going on."

"Well ok brother I'll let you borrow him, but I'll be upset if something bad happens to him." Nunnally said as she conjured a magical circle to summon her familiar, which was a living Pumpkin-like creature with brown roots that composed its body and arms with a pumpkin craved in the likeness of a Jack-O-Lantern for its face. It was quite small being the size of a small dog, but it was oddly adorable in its own way through which was like Nunnally loved her familiar.

"Don't worry Nunnally I promise nothing will happen, besides his abilities at stealth as you have said in the past are surprising all things considered." Lelouch said assuring his younger sister, but he did have a point. Despite its appearance, Nunnally's familiar was surprisingly sneaky and sometimes no one would even notice it was there some times.

It was this fact that made him ideal for tailing Kallen.

"If the situation gets dangerous he should escape and report back." Lelouch added as a means to further ease his sister's worries.

The small creature saluted in response, it didn't really speak much but it understood both her master and her older brother.

'_Let's see if this can yield some results this time.' _

* * *

Meanwhile back in Greece, but more specifically in the city of Athens that was now firmly under Britannian control with news spreading fast like wildfire on how the country had fallen so quickly thanks to the quickness and devastating blows of the Britannian War Machine and the fact its neighboring countries had sided with Britannia due to the ill treatment they had been receiving from the core EU countries. Xander Quarta was entering a private chamber reserved for those of high rank to commune with the man who controlled the Holy Britannian Empire.

With a proud feeling of triumph Xander knelt down as the large wall monitor flickered to life to reveal the aged features of Charles zi Britannia, the 98th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire.

Despite appearing to be in his early sixties Charles was still surprisingly tall, muscular and appeared younger than his real age would suggest. His long white hair was styled into renaissance curls dressed in a purple uniform trimmed with gold wearing an extravagant mantle. His piercing purple eyes met the eyes of Xander who knelt down on one knee before him.

"Yes your majesty…"

"You have exceeded my expectations once again Xander with the conquest of Greece."

"Thank you, but the conquest could not have gone as smoothly as it did without the help of Hades and his Grim Reapers."

"Yes they cleared away those who could have not only alerted the EU forces to the presence of our fleet, but also those who could have turned the tide of battle given a chance."

"Prime Ministers Schneizel's efforts with Greece's neighbors have also been useful, but I am sure news of their breaking away from the EU will be a crushing blow for them." Xander noted, but he could not believe how well it has all gone. "Thanks to their combined efforts and aid Greece is now under Britannian control."

"Indeed and I have made the proper arrangements with the soon to be appointed Viceroy and those ruling Area 19 so that our deal with Hades will be fulfilled." Charles said before deciding to address another matter. "Once you are finished with any last details I would like you to return to Pendragon."

"Is there something amiss?"

"Our spy among the devils has informed me of the fact that my son Lelouch is alive." Charles said before taking a moment to take a breath. "They know about his devil blood and suspect the royal family to be devil pure-bloods."

"Shall we eliminate him then?"

"No, because then that would confirm their suspicious if we attack him now. For now they are uncertain of how Lelouch obtained his devil blood and how far it goes within the royal family. I want us to remain seemingly obvious to this fact as far as the Devil Kings are concerned."

"Does this mean Lelouch is the Black Knight then?"

"You catch on quick, but I am not going to ignore the problem Lelouch and his possession of Arondight represents to us. When you return to Pendragon I shall elevate you to the rank of the Knight of Two following a public announcement of your conquest of Greece, so that you can have the necessary authority to carry out my tasks for me as both my personal liaison and enforcer to Area 11."

"So you are sending me to Japan then?" Xander asked as Charles nodded in response.

"It has come to my attention that the possessor of Boosted Gear has been found. I am dispatching some agents to capture its possessor who will be held in captivity until you arrive in Area 11. Then I want you to carry out an extraction ceremony and take Boosted Gear for your own. With that Sacred Gear combined with your Geass and soon the re-forged Excalibur you will be more than capable of facing Lelouch should he become a threat to us."

"I see, but I assume that will not be my only task if you intend on bestowing upon me such an esteemed title and rank."

"You are correct…we have much to do and I'll discuss them in person after you arrive in Pendragon."

With that the Emperor ended his conversation with Xander allowing the young man to rise up. He made his way out of the conference room so he could make his preparations to return to the homeland as soon as possible.

But on his way out he was met by someone he didn't quite expect.

"I never would have guessed Lelouch of all people would possess Arondight."

Xander saw emerging from the shadows by a stone column was a ten-year old boy with long blonde hair that reached down to the floor. He had a pale complexion with wine red eyes wearing elegant white, black and purple robes complete with a cape.

"Congratulations on your impeding promotion Xander." V.V. congratulated.

"Thank you Lord V.V."

"But I am glad Charles is giving the problems in Area 11 more attention now, although I understand his concerns…I do agree we need to avoid revealing the fact the royal family is of devil blood." V.V. said as he and Xander began a conversation.

"I assume you are probably aware of what your brother wants to discuss with me when I return to Area 11?"

"Yes, but besides my troublesome nephew there are other matters that require someone who is both capable and can handle matters no one outside our own circle should be aware of." V.V. answered which merely confirmed what Xander suspected. "One of which will be the retrieval of C.C…a source has informed me that she has been captured by the Viceroy of Area 11 my nephew Clovis. It seems he has become interested in what Charles and I have been working on."

"I see, so does your brother plan on having Clovis eliminated?"

"We talked about that, but after seeing the reports of the progress Clovis has made we are considering instead of killing that we want to recruit him. He clearly has a talent for the work, so it would be a shame to simply kill him." V.V. answered seemingly proud of his older nephew. "However his ability to govern a territory like Area 11 is clearly not his best skill, which is another reason why we're sending you to Area 11. We also want you to bring the area under our complete control."

"By crushing the resistance movements I presume?"

"Yes, because if the devils are beginning to realize we are devils using the Britannian Empire to begin taking control of the world they may try to use some of the resistance groups in Area 11 to overthrow Area 11 from our control. Area 11 is vital to us because of its Sakuradite Mines, so it's a country we cannot lose."

"I understand, so they would attempt to bend the rules as we have been."

"Exactly, so we want you to completely crush all resistance…that way they'll have no pawns to use." V.V. answered before looking thoughtful for a moment upon which he mentioned. "Although as a precautionary measure I'll see about trying to accelerate things with the Chinese Federation."

"I see then I'll focus on my tasks then."

"Yes see that you do and Kokabiel says he'll contact you after you arrive in Area 11. It seems he is going to be ready to begin his plan."

"So he isn't confident he can trigger a war with the Church?"

"Correct, but thanks to some information we discreetly provided him through third parties we have the perfect location in Area 11 we have been preparing for such an occasion." V.V. smiled maliciously.

* * *

Later that afternoon outside of Ashford Academy the newest member of the student council Kallen Stadtfeld was seemingly heading home, but she began making a series of long detours and long-about routes. This prompted Nunnally's familiar to alert Lelouch who would arrive quickly by means of magical circle teleport with a summoning circle the familiar had been given. Lelouch hung back a safe distance while the familiar still tailed its target.

'_Where on earth she is going?' _Lelouch thought as he followed behind Kallen, but tried not to be obvious.

Wherever she was going it was already apparent that Kallen was going to rather extreme lengths to not only ensure no one was following her, but that no one would be sure of where she was going even if they did.

Eventually Lelouch followed her into Shinjuku Ghetto.

Lelouch had an ominous feeling about this because he was wondering why a girl like Kallen would go into a Japanese ghetto. Was it for drugs, which could explain her health issues, or was there something else he didn't know about yet, but the former prince got his answer when Kallen seemingly underwent a change of character. Now that she was in the ghetto she made a quick adjustment to her hair allowing it to become wild and slightly spiked up while her stance and walking became much stronger and more aggressive.

The former prince smiled at this and realized, _'So the sickly girl was just an act then.' _

A feeling in the back of Lelouch's mind decided this would be a best time to mask his appearance and hide himself in the event if anyone saw him his identity would be protected. With the growing feeling of danger ever present in his mind Lelouch began to contemplate putting on the black armor and ready Arondight, although he was confident in his ability to remain undetected he wasn't as good as Sayoko probably was with stealth.

Deciding on a safer course, Lelouch found a hiding spot nearby and used transformation magic Sirzechs and his bishop had helped teach him early on in his life as a devil as Lelouch transformed into a raven so he could take to the air and watch Kallen from a more causal advantage point. He was careful by not flying too close to Kallen, but at the same time not too obvious either about his observation and tried to play up the part of a bird just flying around.

He was mindful however of keeping out of sight for the most part and staying away from any people, because one of the last times Lelouch had to disguise himself as an animal he almost got attacked by a hungry Japanese man in one of the ghettos who was likely desperate for food tried to kill him. Lelouch managed to escape, but the former prince had no intention of going through such an experience again.

'_What is this feeling of unease I am getting?' _Lelouch thought trying to put his worries to rest.

He didn't sense anything from Kallen, so it wasn't her.

Taking a look around Lelouch tried to determine the source of the uneasy sensation he was feeling.

"**I think you should don the armor?"**

The voice of his partner from within his own body said clearly sensing the danger.

"Are you sure?"

"**Yes…do it not while no one sees you." **

Lelouch summoned the sword into his hand and called out.

"Awaken Arondight!"

In seconds Lelouch was clad in his signature black armor, but he was careful to keep his aura suppressed as much as possible to avoid detection as he continued trying to tail Kallen. Everything went smoothly for a time, but the sensation of danger didn't leave Lelouch as he tracked Kallen to a small warehouse near the heart of the Shinjuku Ghetto. Before Lelouch could investigate further his senses blazed like fire as he sensed danger approaching.

Lelouch looked behind him to see a white robed figure moving to attack him armed with a large sword.

He raised his blade just in time to avoid being attacked successfully deflecting the blow. Xenovia pressed her attack upon seeing the Black Knight lurking around Shinjuku, although he didn't know why it was here but the person they had been sent to hunt down had finally been found after weeks of frustrating searching for the mysterious warrior.

"We have finally found you Black Knight!" Xenovia said as her sword clashed with that of Lelouch's.

'_So she must have been the one I was sensing danger from.' _Lelouch thought realizing he had been sensing the presence of Xenovia's blade and her aura.

After skillfully parry some of her strikes Lelouch shoved her away forcing the blue haired swordswoman back as Lelouch leapt back retreating to another rooftop so that he could gauge his enemy and devise a plan of counterattack. As his mind went through a variety of scenarios and possible plans to counter her appearance and resume his course of tracking Kallen, which Nunnally's familiar has continued doing in his steed, but Lelouch quickly realized that Xenovia wasn't alone.

He suspected it when Xenovia didn't aggressively pursue him so he quickly retreated into the air moments before Irina tried to attack the Black Knight evading her attack altogether.

"**What a predictable combat strategy." **Lelouch said mockingly using the dragon's voice to mask his own from his attackers. **"But I really don't have time for games." **

"You're not going anywhere …in the name of the Lord we'll will destroy you." Irina declared.

"**Really, so I assume this is about my recent activities. I am surprised the Church cares about what happens to Fallen Angels." **Lelouch said sardonically.

"You have risked the supernatural world becoming aware to the public so we cannot allow you to continue." Xenovia snapped gripping the handle of her sword tightly.

Xenovia leapt up into the air while Lelouch dropped back down to the ground after retracting his devil wings upon which he used a sweeping kick to knock a charging Irina to the ground. The pigtailed swordswoman rolled away to evade Lelouch's counterattack as he used his right hand to conjure a magical circle upon which he fired a stream of fire from it. Xenovia tried to attack from above, but Lelouch with his sword in his left hand blocked it.

"**Do you know what the hardest part for me is going to be?" **Lelouch said before pushing Xenovia back. **"It's going to be very hard for me to avoid killing you two when I really have no desire to do so." **

Lelouch knew killing them would only cause political friction between Heaven and the Underworld, which they did not need at this time. The problem Lelouch was facing was how he could defeat them and get away without killing them. He reasoned that while he could kill them Heaven could still hold the Devils and the Underworld responsible as a whole regardless no matter how well he could cover it up especially if he was the target of their mission.

* * *

Meanwhile as Lelouch was fighting off the two exorcists from the Church the red haired woman Lelouch had been following was inside the warehouse, but she was met by a horrific sight upon entering a smaller section of the warehouse which contained a small garage which was used to store their resistance group's Knightmare Frame and other vehicles. On the ground she found the dead bodies of her friends and fellow resistance members whose had for the most part been dismembered by a blade or shot. The grisly sight before her made Kallen sick to her stomach, but soon her eyes came upon the one responsible when she saw a white haired young man about her age wearing usual attire a priest would wear.

His coat was black trimmed with gold, but under that he wore a white suit similar to that of a priest with black boot-like shoes.

"Well hello I have been waiting for you. Sorry about the mess, but I just got a little carried away when I am working it's such a terrible habit." The white haired young man said before his seemingly friendly smiled melted away to reveal that of a extremely sadistic homicidal manic.

"Who the hell are you?" Kallen demanded as her rage was building up within her.

"I am Freed Sellzen and I am a priest!" Freed declared with homicidal glee as he brandished his light sword while in one hand he held his light gun. "I am here to punish your sorry ass because…well…partly because I just want to for the hell of it while my boss says you got to die! So I guess its win-win for me!"

Freed began laughing manically as Kallen quickly picked up a gun on the ground by one of her friend's cut part corpses.

Kallen in a righteous fury began shooting at the exorcist, but she missed as Freed dodged them before rushing the woman and slashing her across the stomach before shooting her hand causing her to drop the gun. With a swift kick Kallen was down on the ground while her only good remaining hand was trying to keep her insides from spilling out as Freed loomed over her laughing.

* * *

Outside Lelouch was holding his own against Irina and Xenovia as the two battled fiercely against him.

Lelouch was confident he could kill them, but he wished to avoid sparking a war with the Church so he was beginning to contemplate how he could best defeat them without killing them.

'_**Partner those blades they have are fragments of Excalibur.' **_The dragon within Lelouch informed him.

'_Yes I suspected as much as the holy aura from those blades felt stronger than anything I have seen.' _

'_**They may have been powerful as a complete weapon, but it's weaker now that it has been fragmented.'**_

'_Are you suggesting I use Balance Breaker then?' _

'_**I believe if you want to end this quickly and avoid killing them then you should end it.' **_

Lelouch contemplated his options, but ultimately he agreed realizing prolonged combat would only increase the chances of the two exorcists receiving reinforcements or the Fallen Angels could join the fight if they have been tailing Kallen as well. With Kallen in mind he didn't want to risk missing out on the reason the Fallen Angels were interested in her.

"**Very well…" **Lelouch used a powerful swing to push Xenovia and Irina back. **"BALANCE BREAKER!" **

A surge of demonic mixed with draconic power erupted from Lelouch as his armor underwent a transformation before the stunned exorcists.

His black armor transformed becoming dragon armor with red gems upon his shoulder, center of the chest, legs and arms. Plates of black armor covered Lelouch's entire body removing the medieval-style armor he had been wearing with something that seemed to be a form of power armor from the future. His armor displayed a more segmented, a more savage, dragon-based shape with claws on the gauntlets and feet complete with a pair of black draconic wings with a gray interior enabling flight. The helmet was more ornate than the last one with blazing red eyes and a three-prong black horned like crown on the top of helmet. The rest was trimmed with gray and gold trimmings.

Irina was stunned, but she had little time to react as Lelouch engaged her head on moving much faster than he was before which almost caught the girl off guard. However when she raised her sword to block his incoming strike Lelouch used one hand to swung his own blade hitting Irina's sword with a powerful swing that met the blade of her Excalibur Mimic head on, which to her shock and Xenovia's horror broke the blade into two.

"My…my holy sword!" Irina said as she was still reeling from the shock of seeing it broken. The impact of the strike didn't only cause her sword to break, but she was sent flying back until she hit an old air conditioning unit that was on the roof of the building they were fighting on.

Xenovia was trying to process what happened, but she had little time to think about it as Lelouch quickly turned and attacked Xenovia as their blades met in a shower of sparks. The blue haired exorcist was struggling to hold up against the immense strength her foe had suddenly gain with his Balance Breaker, but another problem was that she could see cracks forming on the blade of her Excalibur Destruction.

"**Your friend's blade only snapped on the first below because its form she had chosen for it while allowing for quick strikes and attacks gave it a rather thin blade. Furthermore because of its transforming nature to change it shape makes the Excalibur Mimic one of the weakest of the seven swords of Excalibur." **Lelouch said reading Xenovia's expression as their blades met again, but this time a concessive force was released from the impact which swept away smaller debris from their immediate vicinity.

Despite her difficulty Xenovia was holding her ground, but she was being kept on the defensive. Her blade showing more cracks each time their blades met.

"Irina, get away from here NOW!" Xenovia shouted out before she broke away from Lelouch upon which she stabbed the ground they had been standing on causing the entire roof of the building they had been fighting on to cave in.

Lelouch began to fall, but he used his wings to remain afloat. Seconds later the almost broken Excalibur Destruction was thrown at him by Xenovia, although Lelouch deflected it with his blade before it could hit him he saw a gold glow from inside the crumbling building. Xenovia returned leaping towards Lelouch, but this time she was armed with a different sword. It was similar to her last sword, but it wasn't forged from the broken fragment of a holy sword. The blade Xenovia was armed with was a true holy sword which was a uniquely shaped broadsword with a blue blade trimmed with gold.

Their blades met, but this time Xenovia's new sword showed no signs of cracking under the might of Lelouch's own sword.

"**So you brought out a real holy sword this time." **Lelouch said recognizing the blade as one of the legendary holy swords.

Xenovia said nothing, but she fought back fiercely despite the pain in her limbs as she was forced to weather Lelouch's attacks. The blue haired swordswoman knew going on the defensive was a bad idea as her body wouldn't have the strength to weather anymore of his assaults. Her only choice was to go on the offensive and evade Lelouch's attacks.

Another problem she was facing was the fact that Lelouch was moving faster than she was and she was already having a hard enough time trying to keep up with him.

Lelouch seemingly realized Xenovia knew as well as he did that she was trying to avoid using her sword to parry anymore of his attacks since she ran the risk of being overpowers so she was working to try to evade him. Under his helmet Lelouch grinned as he devised a way to end this battle and defeat the girl so he could resume his efforts to follow Kallen and find out what she was up to. Using a quick series of swings with his blade to keep the blue haired swordswoman away from him Lelouch struck the ground at his feet releasing a shockwave that caused the ground to spilt open.

Xenovia almost lost her balance, but she regained it before moving away.

As he hoped the spilt in the ground he caused ruptured some of the water pipes allowing water to shoot up out of the ground. Using a free hand to magically conjure more water from below he began releasing a large stream across the battlefield. Xenovia wasn't sure what the Black Knight was up to, but she was looking for the right moment to rush him and hopefully deal a blow that will put him down for good. Lelouch unleashed fireballs from a magic circle in conjured with his free hand that hit the water creating a blanket of stream and smoke.

Xenovia quickly hurried to retreat out of the cloud mixed with steam, smoke and debris knowing it would be a death trap to fight within it. But once she got out Lelouch hurled his blade at Xenovia missing her before hitting the wall of a building behind her. Looking at the blade with a confused expression for a moment, especially as the eye on the blade was looking directly at her, Xenovia didn't feel the ground beneath her feet beginning to crumble until…

POW!

Lelouch shot up through the ground punching Xenovia right in the chin knocking her into the air. Reaching out with his right hand Arondight returned to Lelouch's hand upon which he quickly knocked Durandal out of a stunned Xenovia's hand before delivering a powerful kick that send her crashing towards the ground before hitting the ground hard. Following his creation of the smokescreen he made Lelouch hurled his blade towards Xenovia so it could track her movements while Lelouch attacked from below after going underground into the sewers to launch a surprise attack from below.

Coughing up blood after enduring such a hard impact Xenovia was struggling to get up, but her body was completely out of it. Worse yet she was weaponless so when Lelouch approached her no longer holding Arondight in one hand, but he was now holding Durandal in the other hand much to the shock of the blue haired swordswoman.

"How…how can you be holding Durandal?"

"**I am a little surprised myself, but I wonder if it is because of my ability to wield my sword which is a holy blade like Durandal itself although it has been greatly changed because of its last owner."** Lelouch answered.

A part of him didn't feel good about having beaten his foe as badly as he did, but if he allowed this fight to drag on for too long then the situation could have gone from bad to worse for him. Still seeing Xenovia unable to move let alone being able to fight back assured Lelouch that the fight between them was over, but on the other hand he had to acknowledge Xenovia's skills and strength to have held her own against him in his Balance Breaker.

'_Even though I was struggling to avoid accidently killing her, but I just wanted to finish this fight quickly.' _Lelouch thought as he could have probably have killed her if he wanted to, but he knew that would be mistake.

"**You entered this battle knowing that death was a potential price. Leave, Exorcist, I would feel sickened to cut down someone who has the will of a true Knight in her prime. Maybe one day we will cross swords again. Just tell me your name…"** Lelouch asked as he was curious to know the name of the one who did well against him all things considered.

Panting and breathing hard for a moment, although she was reluctant to do so she gave her name. "Xenovia…Quarta…"

Following her answer Lelouch stuck her blade into the ground near her before the Black Knight gave Xenovia a formal blade salute.

"Then it has been an honor to cross blades with you, Xenovia. I hope that you will recover soon."

With those words Lelouch left taking flight and heading for the warehouse while Irina after recovering Excalibur Destruction had finally managed to rejoin the battle, but she found her friend on the ground having been defeated.

"OH MY…Xenovia are you alright?" Irina said hurrying to the side of her fallen friend.

"I am fine Irina, but I can't move too well right now." Xenovia said before coughing up some blood.

"We need to get you back so you can heal…here I'll help you up." Irina said as she struggled to move her badly injured friend, although she was thankfully in no danger from dying from her injuries through.

Xenovia was angry that she had lost. Her enemy wasn't only stronger than her, but she had been outmaneuvered as she realized why he had thrown his blade as the eye on it must have allowed him to follow her movements while he was underground. But she wanted to know who the Black Knight was and what exactly was his sword. It must have been a holy sword, but how could a devil have the ability to hold one.

'_It doesn't make sense…just what is he?' _

Entering the warehouse with his weapon draw Lelouch began looking around for Kallen, but soon he found her in a room filled with the bodies of members of a resistance group judging by the weapons and the fact they had a Knightmare Frame in the room. Lelouch found the girl was still alive as she was desperately clinging to life even though she had already lost a lot of blood already. A weakened and dying Kallen saw Lelouch as he was still in his Balance Breaker which startled her, but she was in no condition to do anything.

Kneeling down besides her Lelouch gently rolled her over to examine the wound.

Raising his right hand over it he tried to use magic to heal the wound, but soon realized it was in vain as the wound was too deep and Kallen had lost a lot of blood already.

'_**It's amazing she is still alive after being cut open like that…she has quite the will that one.' **_The dragon within Lelouch commented.

'_If only I could have been here sooner, but damn it.' _Lelouch thought while angered that Xenovia and that other girl from the church had interfered.

Seeing that Lelouch had tried to help her by attempting to heal her wound, but perhaps realizing she was going to die looked up at the man seeking a way to survive. More than anything Kallen wanted to live as the thought of dying like this was unacceptable, but furthermore she wanted revenge on the one who did this to her and slaughtered her friends.

"I can't stop your death from coming…I am sorry." Lelouch said adopting his normal voice. "However I can offer you a new life, but know that you are making a deal with the devil."

Lelouch drew out an Evil Piece.

"This is the contract I make with you…agree to become my servant to fight for me as a warrior under me and I shall in turn grant you an opportunity for vengeance. If you accept know that you will no longer be human…you'll become a demonic servant…a devil." Lelouch said as he made no effort to hide what Kallen would become if she accepted, but he saw the fierce desire to life and it didn't take much to realize she likely wanted revenge on the one who had killed everyone in the room and then leaving her to bleed to death amongst them.

Kallen tried to say something, but either she was too weak or some blood had gotten into her lungs. However Lelouch saw the look in her eyes…the fierce determination to live so she began trying to reach for the evil piece he held in his hand. As her eyes began to close with the last flickers of life leaving them the last thing Kallen Kozuki heard before her eyes closed completely.

"Very well…"

* * *

Later that evening at Ashford Academy the younger sister of Lelouch was waiting patiently for her brother to return home. Her familiar had returned and informed her of the battle her brother had been involved in, although he won it merely made her worry even more so than before. At that moment she heard the door open and she was hoping it was Lelouch who had come home, but instead Rias arrived with Sona following her.

"Huh Rias-sama and Sona-chan, but why are you two here?" Nunnally exclaimed with surprise.

"Sorry for coming so late Nunnally-chan, but we wanted to surprise Lelouch-san and graduating him on becoming a high-class devil." Rias greeted with a smile.

"We would have some sooner, but we both had busy afternoons." Sona added as the two girls joined Nunnally at the dinner table.

"But isn't Lelouch-san with you tonight?"

"He was supposed to join me for dinner, but I think he is planning to go after that Fallen Angel." Nunnally said as she accidently let it slip due to her worrying for her brother's well being.

"HE'S WHAT!?" Sona and Rias exclaimed together.

"Oh…recently there has been a Fallen Angel snooping around the school, so my brother was worried they might have figured out his true identity as the Black Knight but he found out they were targeting one of his friends and then this other girl going to our school."

"HOLD ON…your brother is the Black Knight?" Sona said recalling the newspaper articles of an urban legend about a mysterious Black Knight who had been reported by some witnesses to have been responsible for wiping out whole drug and human trafficking operations usually leaving virtually no survivors. Sona quickly began to suspect those incidents were probably hide what Lelouch was doing, which was likely in regards to a job he must have been given.

"I guess that explains a lot, but where is your brother now?" Rias asked a worried Nunnally.

* * *

Across town Lelouch still in his Balance Breaker armor was tailing Yuuma from the skies, although she had done nothing to Rivalz yet this merely concerned Lelouch even more. So he decided to confront the Fallen Angel and find out what she was planning. The former prince felt he had no choice now since his tailing of Kallen might have been noticed by the enemy, so he had to assume that the enemy would accelerate their plans as a result so Lelouch would need to act quickly.

Yuuma arrived at an old church that was on the edge of the Saitama Ghetto which fir the usual hideout used by Fallen Angels. His familiar landed on his shoulder as Lelouch descended from the sky and quietly landed on the roof by the bell-tower. The church was an old design used by some of the residences before the war, although it was in the same decaying state as the rest of the ghetto was the church surprisingly stood despite having been abandoned for years. It was small with a bell tower and a large hall that was directly bellow it.

Lelouch moved into the bell tower which gave him a good bird's eye view of a good part of the hall below while trying to mask his aura as best as possible to avoid detection.

'_Maybe I can find out what is going on.' _Lelouch said as he tried to listen in on the conversation happening below.

Yuuma met with a number of individuals below her which Lelouch assumed were Fallen Angels, Stray Priests or both. The former prince at least counted at least twenty who the young man assumed they were former priests while the remaining five were Fallen Angels judging by the attire they wore. Readying for battle Lelouch sat quietly like a deadly predator waiting for the right moment to strike.

"So Raynare did you confirm the target?" The leader of the group inhabiting the church asked Yuuma or rather Raynare which turned out to be her real name.

"Yes and the target is Milly Ashford…her friend was more than forth coming on all of the information I needed, so we just need to wait for the right time to abduct her." Raynare reported.

Lelouch was surprised as he was almost certain Rivalz was the intended target, but it seemed Raynare was merely using him to get information off of the young man regarding Milly. Given how much Rivalz has sought Milly's affections even through the blonde was clearly obvious to them he was probably a good source for information regarding Milly and what her usually activities were.

"Actually we'll need to act tonight because there might be a complication." The leader said who was a large man standing at least seven feet tall with a large muscular body and board shoulders wearing a white business suit with a black tie. He had a bald head with red eyes and pointed ears while possessing a pair of black angelic wings.

"What do you mean?" Raynare inquired with a confused expression.

"The other girl Kallen was followed by the Black Knight according to Freed, but he was attacked by two members of the Church so Freed took care of her before escaping the area." The Fallen Angel replied.

"But what about the Sacred Gear she had?" Raynare asked clearly alarmed by the girl's death.

"We can still get the other one from Milly, so relax."

"Won't Azazel-sama be angry over it, because I know he was very interested in acquiring it?"

"Like I said don't worry about it…in fact this makes it easier for us." The larger Fallen Angel said with a dark smile before a pair of gunshots rang out. Raynare was on the ground as both of her knees had been shot out by two Stray Priests. "To set you up to take the fall so we can take those Sacred Gears for another who can make better use of them."

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Raynare snapped as she struggled to get up, but as she tried to use her wings to take to the air the large Fallen Angel materialized a pair of light spears which he used to pin Raynare to the ground with them by impaling her wings. "You won't get away with this…Azazel-sama…Azazel-sama will make you pay for this betrayal."

"Azazel will be furious that much is certain, but once he is convinced the Sacred Gears was lost by your treachery and incompetence they'll be in much better hands. Furthermore he'll be pleased to hear we punished the traitor at least." The lead Fallen Angel replied smugly before he was about to finish Raynare off, but Lelouch leapt down from ceiling cleaving off the Fallen Angel's arms with a surprise attack.

Raynare and everyone else were stunned as the Black Knight was before them.

"SHIT IT'S THE BLACK KNIGHT!" One of the exorcists screamed as the black armor and sword almost matched some of the descriptions they have heard about.

As the lead Fallen Angel was in pain Lelouch quickly spun around beheading him before attacking another Fallen Angel, a younger man with blonde hair and green eyes wearing a black suit with a blue tie. The Fallen Angel manifested a light spear which he began using as a sword to fight Lelouch while the other exorcists and Fallen Angels were moving to engage Lelouch head on intending to overwhelm him, which might present a bit of a problem while trying to protect Raynare.

'_I got rid of the leader easily enough, but I'll need to kill them quickly otherwise I might lose a prisoner who might have some information I can draw out of her.' _Lelouch thought as he laid out a plan of attack, but fate smiled on him this evening as a blast of highly destructive red energy destroyed the doors leading into the church that sent some exorcists flying.

"This is quite the mess you got yourself into Black Knight-kun." Rias remarked playfully while in her right open palm she held a sphere of crimson energy.

"You have quite the interesting night life." Sona remarked joining Rias.

"**What are you two doing here?" **Lelouch asked as he clearly wasn't expecting them.

"Let's just say someone was very worried about you." Sona answered, which led Lelouch to easily deduce who told them.

'_Nunnally, but why?' _Lelouch thought, but remembering he was in the middle of a fight he would need to ask Nunnally later. _'I guess this makes it a lot easier then.' _

"No matter we outnumber them!" The blonde haired Fallen Angel shouted.

"Well we didn't know what to expect, so we brought some help." Rias replied with a sweet smile before Koneko and Akeno entered the church. For Sona she brought her Queen and her rook for some backup.

Sona's queen was a young bespectacled buxom woman with long straight black hair that extends all the way down to her knees with split bangs and heterochromia eyes, with a violet left eye and a light brown right eye armed with a naginata. Like Sona and Rias she naturally wore the Kuoh Academy school uniform for female students while wearing blue, semi-rimmed glasses with square lenses.

Her rook also wore the Kuoh Academy uniform for female students. She had light blue hair that hung down to her shoulders with matching eyes with an overall tomboy appearance.

Sona's rook Tsubasa Yura engaged the nearest Stray Exorcist by punching the first one that rushed her with his light sword drawn in the fact that sent him flying thanks to her enhanced strength inherited from being a rook. Sona's queen Tsubaki Shinra joined the fray attacking in tandem with Sona who used magic to block all incoming attacks until their enemies were in fact for Tsubaki to attack with her preferred weapon of choice.

Akeno joined the battle as well using one of her trademark spells, lightning, upon the enemies that approached her and Rias catching six of them with a single lightning spell which defeated them. The six exorcists laid on the ground in agony as the lightning spell didn't kill them, but it did more than enough to remove them from the fight.

"Don't let them overwhelm us!" The blonde fallen angel called out again before Lelouch cleaved through his light spear before cutting the Fallen Angel in half.

"But this one is just a little grade school kid!" The priest said taking his eyes off of Koneko for a moment as she readied a punch before hitting the stray priest square in the face that sent him flying across the room.

Lelouch began laughing at how the tide had turned so quickly in his favor. Thanks to Rias and Sona bringing their Queens and one of their Rooks the fight had turned into a one-sided complete beat down of the enemy. He engaged the last three Fallen Angels as they tried attacking him all at once, but while using his sword to deflect their light spears he used his hand to grab one of them out of the air before throwing it back nailing one of the Fallen Angels in the head. Seeing that one of them was shocked by the fact that Lelouch had literally seized one of their light spears out of the air and threw it back at them without any damage to him was unexpected to say the least. That hesitation was fatal as Lelouch beheaded the Fallen Angel before turning his attention to the last one left to oppose him.

"Who the hell are you?" The last Fallen Angel cried out in rage as he tried in vain to challenge Lelouch, but he parried his frenzied and panicked attacks before cleaving off his head.

"**I am the Black Demonic Dragon."** Lelouch replied smoothly as the Fallen Angel fell to the ground while his head rolled away towards a injured Raynare who tried to crawl away, but Lelouch stopped her. **"You have some explaining to do."**

Raynare looked up at Lelouch as the dreaded Black Knight had had heard so much about loomed over her, but to make her situation worse Rias and Sona approached the downed Fallen Angel with their respective servants following them.

"Mind explaining what is going on?" Sona inquired to both Lelouch and Raynare.

* * *

A/N: Well next chapter will be titled Clash at Ashford Academy, because the situation isn't over yet and Milly is still a target.

Kallen died as a result of Freed, but Lelouch has revived her as a devil to serve as a member of his peerage while he went after Raynare guessing correct because of his run in with Xenovia and Irina had exposed the fact the feared Black Knight was now onto them had forced them to accelerate their plans.

For Lelouch's Balance Breaker I tried to design it to share some general characteristics commonly seen with Vail and Issei's Balance Breaker forms. However to add some cosmetic and design differences I drew ideas from Akame ga kill's Incursio's Evolved form with the helmet and wing designs from the anime version while the rest borrows more from the manga version.

The dragon's name within Lelouch's sword is Alduin suggested to me by ReaperAsOfLate, although I tried to think of something original but all of the good dragon names were taken or none I found felt as appealing to me.

Next on my agenda is to decide the final line up of Lelouch's peerage, but I have grown frustrated with building a line up I can feel pleased with. So I have created a new poll with a twist, you vote for potential members but only for a certain number while the characters have been marked with their intended roles.

So I need four pawns, two knights, one rook and one bishop while the other spots below have been filled or will be filled after certain events in the story.

Lelouch's peerage:

King: Lelouch

Queen: Rossweisse

Bishop 1: Ravel Phenex (later on)

Rook 1: Ayano Kosaka

Pawn 1: Ryo

Pawn 2: Yukiya

Pawn 3: Leila

Pawn 4: Kallen

Pawn 5: Sayoko

I was very reluctant to include Ravel, but considering her age and such she may not join the harem officially until she is older. My reluctance came from the fact that she is rather young in appearance so I was little concerned about that, but considering Lelouch's ability of having a very high resistance to holy grounds and objects like holy water and light blades it would be madness for the Phenex Clan to arrange for a possible future marriage between Lelouch and Ravel all things considered.

As for the poll and some of the choices I included on there I should note Lelouch might trade with Sona or other characters for servants. He would trade them his unused pieces for their servants, which are mutation pieces modified to work quite well with Sacred Gear users so Sona could probably use a few to add some power houses to her peerage as an example. But she is unlikely to trade more than two, but this would give Lelouch some experienced servants he wouldn't need to train from the start.

Also I have included Xenovia and Irina into the servant poll since my second biggest decision so far have been trying to work out which of them should be paired with Lelouch. Both could work depending on conditions, but I have some plans for them laid out. If Xenovia joins Lelouch's peerage I am considering giving Irina to Rias's peerage or vice-versa.

The poll will be open until I hit 50 votes or more, which can be found on my profile page.

If you have questions or suggestions leave it in a review and I'll answer it as soon as possible. In the mean time I thank you all for your reviews so far I greatly appreciate them.


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